Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has successfully undergone the environmental management audit procedure aimed at checking the system’s compliance with the ISO 14001-2004 international standards. The audit was carried out by Germany-based TUV NORD CERT GmbH.

The procedure involved sixteen production departments, with both directors and employees showing a lot of improvements, meeting all the environmental goals for 2008, and exposing good skills of using the environmental management system in process control.

TUV NORD CERT’s experts came to the conclusion that MMK’s environmental management system kept on developing, operated efficiently, and met all of ISO 14001-2004 requirements, MMK’s PR Department reports.

The enterprise’s environmental management system was launched and certified for compliance with ISO 14001 in 2004. Last year, the company underwent the re-certification audit procedure and received a new certificate of compliance. The certificate is valid for three years.

As a matter of fact, MMK has adopted its special Environmental Program for 2008-2015 in order to reach its environmental protection goals. The program provides for actions targeted at reduction and prevention of the company’s production’s negative environmental impact. MMK invested 908.02 million RUR in the program implementation in three quarters of 2008. All in all, the enterprise spent 1996 million RUR on environmental projects in January-September 2008.