The Central Environmental Authority was certified under ISO9001:2015 standard by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution

Details

The CEA functions its processes under the provisions of the NEA since 1981. However, these processes are governed by regulations, technical guidelines and internal circulars. Moving forward the CEA has developed systematic manuals by which the CEA follows streamlined procedures (SOPS) in accordance with the requirements of the ISO9001:2015 standard.

Under the guidance of Mr. Supun S Pathirage, Chairman, CEA and with the concept of Mr. Hemantha Jayasinghe, Director General, CEA this Quality Managenement System is being implemented. With the fullest effort of Mr. N S Gamage, Deputy Director General, EIA; the team leader and the internal auditors of each units, the Central Environmental Authority has been obtained ISO 9001:2015 certificate.

The CEA has developed the quality policy, system manual, procedure manual, processes and guidelines. The process risks and objectives also were identified as per the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 standard. In order to check the compliances with the standards, the CEA has conducted two internal quality audits and management review meetings in line with the requirements of the standard. Subsequently the CEA applied the SLSI for conformity of certificate for the conducted an adequacy audit, stage 1 audit and stage 11 audit to assess the eligibility for the certification under ISO 9001:2015 standard and satisfied with the implementation of the standard. Subsequently, the SLSI awarded the ISO 9001:2015 certification to the CEA for a period of three years commencing from 2023-01-19 under the following scope.

“All  services offered by the Central Environmental Authority head office and Western Provincial Office including environmental planning, environmental pollution control, solid waste & hazardous waste management, air quality & laboratory services, environmental impact assessment, natural resources management, research and development, strategic environmental assessment, environmental education & awareness, dissemination of information, environmental promotions, law enforcement, resolving public complaints, single use plastic control, compliance monitoring and co-operate activities.”

The adoption of a quality management is a strategic decision the CEA that can help to improve the overall performance and provide a sound basic for sustainable development initiatives. The potential benefits to the CEA of implementing a quality management system based on this international standard are:

a)    The ability to consistently provide services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements;
b)    Facilitating opportunities to enhance customer satisfaction;
c)    Addressing risk and opportunities associated with its context and objectives;
d)    The ability to demonstrate conformity to specified quality management system requirements.