Dubai Customs receives ISO 14001:2004 for its Environment Management System

Such a certificate reinforces the Department's reputation locally and internationally.

ISO 14001:2004 developed by the International Organization for Standardization is considered an international standard for measuring the compatibility of the projects with the environment management systems by assessing activities and events that affect and control the environment which include rationalization means of the natural resources and energy consumption and waste management and resolution.

Dubai Customs managed to obtain the certificate after applying external scrutiny operations conducted by the international ISO Certificates provider. The inspection operations lasted for two days and were taken at the Department's headquarters and tested to check consistency with the ISO standards.

Mr. Yousef Al Sahlawi, Acting Senior Executive Director of Corporate Affairs and Executive Director of Legislations and Policies Division at Dubai Customs received the ISO 14001:2004 certificate last Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at the Department's headquarters by the providing company's representative.

Mr. Al Sahlawi confirmed:

"Dubai Customs has given great interest to the environment cause and its preservation since a long time. Such interest was embodied throughout the past few years by creating an electronic work environment where number of paper utilized is reduced. The Department also implements the highest international standards of rationalizing electricity and water consumption, minimizing waste and adopting highly advanced and environmentally friendly work systems."

He added that such measures are inline with the Department's keenness to implement the best international practices in all work domains including environment management systems. He pointed out that receiving this ISO certificate from a neutral and international party gives a guarantee to our clients of the attention given to the environment cause "Meeting the quality services we provide for our clients and employees via the electronic work environment the Department has." he said.

At the end of the ceremony, Mr. Yousef Al Sahlawi awarded the project's team that consisted of employees of six different departments.

It took the project six months in the making. It started with creating the internal team who developed the environment management system procedures according to the ISO 14001:2004 requirements through specifying the environmental effects resulting from the operations and activities done by the Department that aim to reduce environmental issues such as waste and footprint And, how these in turn can influence the objectives and help raise environmental awareness amongst the employees.

The Quality Department team at Dubai Customs internally examined the system in all departments and customs centers to ensure the implementation of the ISO standards. After that, the ISO providing company was invited to perform external scrutiny operations that lasted for two days to make sure implemented procedures at the Department meet the ISO conditions and standards.