Shedding light on ISO 14001 certification audits

This article analyses the extent to which the ISO 14001 certification audit can be considered as an independent and rigorous process ensuring organizational conformance with the standard and improved environmental performance. Although the ISO 14001 certification process and external recognition are based on external audits, the rigor, focus and reliability of these audits tend to be taken for granted and have been largely overlooked in the literature. Moreover, the experience of auditors and ISO 14001 professionals has rarely been taken into account in the literature. As a result, the reasons why organizations which have superficially implemented the ISO 14001 standard have succeeded in becoming certified remain unclear. This article describes a qualitative study conducted in Canada with thirty-six professionals involved in ISO 14001 certification audits, and sheds light on the rather elastic interpretation and application of this standard, with a focus on procedural rather than substantive aspects of the Environmental Management System. The findings call into question the prevailing opinion on the rather objective, rigorous and unambiguous nature of ISO 14001 certification audits.