Bond prepares ISO 14001 certification in Iraq and Kurdistan.
The environmental management system. It controls waste, emissions, spills and legal compliance, and it is the certificate operators read in the HSE part of a supplier file.
ISO 14001 Environmental management systems · Environment
What ISO 14001 is
ISO 14001:2015 is the international standard for an environmental management system. It asks a company to list every way its work touches the environment, meet the laws and permits that apply to it, control the activities that cause the biggest impact, and measure the result. The certification body issues the certificate to the company.
What the standard requires
- Clauses 1 to 3 cover scope, normative references and terms. Clauses 4 to 10 are the requirements an auditor checks.
- Clause 4, context. List the parties that matter, state which sites and activities the system covers, and map the processes that touch the environment.
- Clause 5, leadership. Management signs the environmental policy, owns the system, and assigns responsibility for each control in writing.
- Clause 6, planning. Register every environmental aspect and impact, rank the significant ones, list the laws and permits that apply, and set objectives with numbers and dates.
- Clause 7, support. Competence records for the people who handle waste, fuel and chemicals, plus awareness training, internal and external communication, and document control.
- Clause 8, operation. Control the significant aspects in the field, set environmental requirements for contractors and suppliers, and keep an emergency preparedness and spill response plan that is tested.
- Clause 9, performance evaluation. Monitor emissions, waste and consumption, evaluate legal compliance on a schedule, run internal audits on a plan, and hold a management review.
- Clause 10, improvement. Log every spill, incident and nonconformity, find the cause, correct it, and show the correction worked.
Who needs ISO 14001 in Iraq and Kurdistan
The buyers that ask for ISO 14001
| Buyer or list | What they ask for |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Natural Resources Approved Vendor List | mnronline.com/avl. HSE is evaluated next to finances and the quality system. A government fee applies by category, renewed each year. We confirm the current fee before you apply. |
| Kurdistan operators | DNO, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone and HKN run their own HSE prequalification on top of the MNR list before a contractor gets a gate pass. |
| Basra operators | Basrah Gas Company, Rumaila, EBS Petroleum and AL-WAHA run no public tenders. A supplier is invited once the HSE file is accepted. |
| EPC contractors | Subcontractor files on projects in Kurdistan and Basra carry an environmental section covering waste routes, fuel storage and spill response. |
| KRG Approved Suppliers Center | asc.gov.krd. Annual registration. Certificates must come from a recognised conformity body to clear the criteria. |
| Kurdistan Region Board of Environment Protection and Improvement | Permits and approvals for a site are issued by the regulator, and a certificate does not replace one. The auditor asks to see the permit file at stage 2. |
| Federal Ministry of Planning | Contractor classification and the federal unified electronic tendering platform. We confirm the current instruction before filing. |
| Foreign buyers and lenders | Buyers and lenders in the Gulf and Europe ask for a certificate from a body accredited under an IAF member before they finance or place a first order. |
Two tracks, you choose one
Certificate track
5 daysA company that needs a valid certificate to register on the MNR AVL or the KRG ASC, or to answer the environmental clause in an operator prequalification before the deadline. We prepare the compliance system in five working days. The certification body then issues the certificate, and its calendar sits outside those five days.
Steps- We read the tender or the prequalification form and confirm the standard, the scope and the body the buyer accepts.
- We agree with the owner which sites and activities the certificate covers on the first of the five working days.
- We build the aspects and impacts register and the register of applicable law with the site supervisors.
- We write the document set inside those five days: policy, objectives, operational controls, waste and fuel procedures, emergency response and forms.
- We train each site supervisor in a half day session on the records that person has to keep.
- We run the first internal audit, the compliance evaluation and the management review in the same five days, then close the findings.
- We book the certification body, prepare the site, attend stage 1 and stage 2, and answer the findings with your team.
- The compliance system, prepared in five working days
- Scope statement covering the sites and activities
- Aspects and impacts register with the significant aspects ranked
- Register of applicable environmental law and permits
- Environmental policy and objectives with numbers and dates
- Operational controls, waste procedures and the spill response plan
- Internal audit report, compliance evaluation and management review minutes
- Corrective action records for every finding
- A three year surveillance and renewal calendar
Implementation track
6 to 14 weeksA company whose sites are inspected by an operator HSE team or an EPC client, and that wants waste, fuel and spill controls running in the field every day.
Steps- We analyse what the company does and what its buyers and tenders require, then send a proposal.
- We walk every site with the supervisors and build the aspects and impacts register from what happens in the field.
- We collect the permits, licences and waste disposal contracts the company holds and write the register of applicable law against them.
- We write the documentation in Arabic, Kurdish or English and keep it to the forms the site staff will actually fill in.
- We train every site and department, then run a spill and emergency drill and record it.
- We let the system run for three to four weeks so waste, fuel and monitoring records exist before stage 2.
- We run the internal audit programme, the compliance evaluation and the management review, then prepare the site and attend stage 1 and stage 2.
- Aspects and impacts register built on site with the supervisors
- Register of applicable law, permits and licences with renewal dates
- Full documented system in the working language
- Waste, fuel and chemical handling procedures with the site forms
- Emergency preparedness plan and the record of a tested drill
- Three to four weeks of live monitoring, waste and fuel records before the audit
- Internal audit programme, compliance evaluation and management review minutes
- A three year surveillance and renewal calendar we run with you
The certification body issues the certificate.
The implementation track, week by week
| Phase | Weeks | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Scope and buyer requirements | Weeks 1 to 2 | We confirm which sites and activities the certificate covers and which body the buyer accepts. Nothing is written before this is fixed. |
| Site walks and aspects register | Weeks 2 to 4 | We walk every site with the supervisors, record what the work does to air, water, land and waste, and rank the significant aspects. |
| Legal register and permits | Weeks 3 to 5 | We collect the permits, licences and disposal contracts the company holds and build the register of applicable law with renewal dates. |
| Documentation | Weeks 4 to 8 | Policy, operational controls, waste and fuel procedures and the emergency plan, written in Arabic, Kurdish or English around the records the site already keeps. |
| Training and drills | Weeks 7 to 9 | A session per site on the records that site owns, a session for management on the review, and one spill and emergency drill with its record. |
| Records running live | Weeks 8 to 11 | The system runs in daily operations for three to four weeks so monitoring, waste transfer and inspection records exist for the auditor to sample. |
| Internal audit and compliance evaluation | Weeks 11 to 12 | We audit every clause, evaluate compliance against the legal register, log the findings, and hold the management review with the owner. |
| Certification audit | Weeks 12 to 14 | The accredited body runs stage 1 on the documents and stage 2 on site. We prepare the site, attend both, and answer the findings. |
What we do, what you do
We do
- Confirm which standard, which sites and which certification body the buyer accepts, before any work starts.
- Walk the sites and build the aspects and impacts register with the supervisors who run the work.
- Write the register of applicable environmental law and check it against the permits the company holds.
- Write the whole documented system in the language the company works in.
- Train site supervisors and management, and run the first spill and emergency drill with them.
- Run the first internal audit and the compliance evaluation, and chair the management review.
- Select certification bodies, collect their quotes, and book the audit dates.
- Prepare the site, attend stage 1 and stage 2, and write the corrective actions for every finding.
- Keep the surveillance and recertification dates in a calendar and prepare the company for each audit.
You do
- Name one HSE or management representative who can give about five hours a week.
- Give us the permits, licences, waste disposal contracts, site layouts and any monitoring records the company already keeps.
- Release each site supervisor for a half day of training and a half day for the internal audit.
- Let us walk every site in the scope, including stores, fuel points, generators and waste areas.
- Take part in one spill and emergency drill, which takes about two hours on site.
- Have the owner or general manager attend the management review, which takes about two hours.
- Use the site forms in daily work during the live period so the auditor sees real records.
- Pay the certification body and any government fees directly, or through us at cost with the receipts.
What moves the price
- Number of sites in the scope and whether the auditor has to travel to Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad or Basra.
- Effective headcount, which sets the auditor days under the IAF MD 5 table.
- How many significant environmental aspects the work creates, from an office to a drilling yard.
- Whether the company stores or handles fuel, chemicals or hazardous waste, which adds controls and audit time.
- How many permits, licences and disposal contracts the legal register has to track.
- Whether the certificate has to come from a body accredited under an IAF member or a locally accredited body is enough.
- Languages the documentation is written in.
- How much usable documentation already exists in the company.
- Which track the company takes, the five day certificate track or the 6 to 14 week implementation track.
- Whether ISO 14001 is built alone or together with ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 as one system, which lowers total auditor days.
The proposal names the scope, the deliverables and the dates before work starts.
ISO 14001 questions we are asked
We prepare the compliance system in five working days on the certificate track. The implementation track runs six to fourteen weeks. The certification body then issues the certificate on its own calendar. Bureau Veritas, SGS, TUV and KQC in Erbil each set their own audit dates.
The proposal names the scope, the deliverables and the dates before work starts.
A certificate from a body accredited by IQAS, for example KQC in Erbil, is valid in Iraq and accepted for KRG lists. IQAS is not a member of the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement. Operators such as DNO, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone and HKN, UN agencies and foreign buyers normally require a body accredited under an IAF member, such as Bureau Veritas, SGS or TUV. We confirm which one the buyer accepts before any body is booked.
The HSE criteria of the Ministry of Natural Resources Approved Vendor List at mnronline.com/avl, and the HSE prequalification files of the operators that take suppliers from it: DNO, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone and HKN in Kurdistan, Basrah Gas Company, Rumaila, EBS Petroleum and AL-WAHA in Basra. EPC contractors carry the same section for subcontractors, and KRG ASC registration at asc.gov.krd is renewed every year. Operators in Kurdistan and Basra ask contractors for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 together, and one body can audit the three in one visit, which lowers total auditor days.
No. A certificate is not a permit. A company in Iraq still holds the permits, licences and approvals its activity needs from the regulator, and the auditor asks to see them at stage 2 under clause 6.1.3, compliance obligations. We build the register of applicable law and permits with their renewal dates, then evaluate compliance against it before the certification audit.
Three years from the date of issue. The certification body runs a surveillance audit each year and a recertification audit in year three. We keep those dates in a calendar and prepare the company for each one. If a surveillance audit is missed the body can suspend the certificate, and a suspended certificate will not pass a list renewal at the KRG ASC or the MNR AVL.
Yes. We work anywhere in Iraq, in Basra, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok, and in the Gulf. The office is in Erbil and the team travels to the site.
Business inquiry
Select a target. Two questions follow, and the file reaches the desk on WhatsApp. A reply comes within four working hours.