In 1996 Formosa became one of the first U.S. chemical companies to have all of its operations registered to the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems.

ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO), which develops and promotes international standards to encourage trade through the uniformity of accepted practice.

The ISO 14001:2006 standard applies to all companies of all types and sizes and requires them to have a basic set of components within their environmental management systems. These core components include management commitment, a defined organization with sufficient resources and an environmental policy. ISO 14001 also requires an environmental impacts evaluation, the establishment of objectives and targets and a mechanism to implement those objectives. Appropriate training, effective communication, and management system auditing are also part of the ISO system. These elements are considered to be the minimum requirements, a foundation from which a company can build an effective environmental management system.

While the ISO standard is "voluntary," its acceptance as a condition for doing business is likely to follow the success of its predecessor, the ISO 9000 standard. Although this was a significant achievement back in 1996, the hard work continues. Each of our chemical manufacturing subsidiaries is audited every six months to ensure conformance to ISO requirements. A full re-certification audit is performed every three years.

Full and early ISO 14001 certification is a clear indication that the corporation has taken an environmental leadership position in the chemical industry.

You can obtain additional information, and view our ISO certificates, on the Dedication To Quality section of this website.