Terms for use of the Eco-Lighthouse portal and Eco-Lighthouse-certified activities.
This agreement regulates the use of the Eco-Lighthouse scheme and the obligations of the parties. The agreement enters into force from the time it is accepted in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal by a Company representative.
ABOUT Eco-LIGHTHOUSE
Eco-Lighthouse is a certification scheme for environmental management. A valid certificate that the company meets the Eco-Lighthouse standards is a recognised proof that the certificate holder meets a number of criteria for targeted and continuous work on climate and the environment. A certified company meets criteria adapted to its own operations and industry, and implements measures for more environmentally friendly operations and sustainable value chains, as well as for a good working environment. An Eco-Lighthouse certificate is awarded after an independent assessment by a certifier. A certified company is recertified every three years.
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is responsible for ensuring the quality of the scheme, including the certification criteria and necessary support for companies in the process of certification. The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation develops and operates the Eco-Lighthouse Portal, which is the company’s digital tool for documenting and managing its environmental work.
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation also assesses and qualifies those independent consultants who wish to assist and advise companies on certification. However, the Eco-Lighthouse has no influence on the assessments and control exercised by the certifiers.
The Eco Lighthouse Foundation’s obligations and rights:
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation shall ensure the availability of updated criteria in accordance with significant environmental aspects for the individual industries.
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is obliged to provide information on professional updates, courses, current events, etc. The information is published on the communication channels belonging to the Eco-LighthouseFoundation.
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation sends reminders related to certification processes.
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation shall operate and further develop digital tools in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal (for environmental mapping, criteria sets, management methods, etc.).
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is responsible for the operation of the Eco-Lighthouse portal and has data processing agreements with our subcontractors. The agreements meet current requirements for personal and information security.
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation shall ensure that data is properly stored, and backups are performed on a regular basis.
The obligations and rights of a company under certification.
- The company shall be aware of and accept that the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation sends an invoice for the establishment cost at the formal start of the certification process. This is done by creating the environmental mapping form. The establishment cost must be paid by the company within the deadline stated in the invoice. This applies even if the certification process has not yet been completed. Thereafter, the service fee will be invoiced annually. Current prices are published on www.miljofyrtarn.no.
- The company shall be aware of and accept that the environmental survey lasts for one year. If the environmental survey is not completed by the deadline, the entire process must be restarted. This is required to ensure that the company is certified according to the updated certification criteria. Separate rules apply to companies that use the head office model.
- The company shall be aware of and accept that information about the business and contact persons will be transferred to the certification body.
- The company is obliged to indicate all significant activities as a basis for the right choice of the industry criteria set.
- The company undertakes to keep contact and invoice information in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal up to date.
- The company must at all times have an Eco-Lighthouse Manager — as long as the company is in an active customer relationship.
- The company’s figures and data belong to that company, which is fully responsible for documents that are uploaded to the Eco-Lighthouse Portal. The company is responsible for the registration of its documents and for ensuring the confidentiality of comments of a sensitive nature.
- The company must annually by 1 April fill in its environmental data for the previous year, using for this purpose the reporting form in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal. The environmental data shall be published in the climate and environmental report. The exception to this is sensitive data. The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation has the right to use data from the climate and environmental report in general, aggregate statistics.
- The company must at all times have a registered representative in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal, who was selected from the company’s management team. It is the management’s responsibility to ensure that the company is ready for certification.
The company shall be made aware that only the management has the opportunity to show that the criteria have been fully met, by submitting the completed environmental survey/mapping to the certifier.
- The company can provide and remove access to a consultant and certifier in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal.
- The company must be aware that criteria are updated regularly, and that recertification takes place according to the criteria in force at any given time.
- The company is responsible for notifying the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation of changes that may have an impact on the certificate. Matters such as mergers, relocations and expansions / reductions should be specifically mentioned.
- The company is obliged to notify the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation in the event of serious deviations from the certification criteria or requirements of the public supervisory authority, as well as in the event of offences, receiving police reports, etc. that are related to the working environment and/or the external environment.
- The company must be aware that a potential consultant is not employed by the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation, and that the Foundation is not liable for the work performed by that consultant.
- The company is obliged to keep up to date on the rules and conditions that apply in the Eco-Lighthouse scheme, including certification process, profiling and logo use, as well as complaint handling and system requirements. The above requirements are described at miljofyrtarn.no and in the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation’s system rules. You will find the system rules at www.miljofyrtarn.no, under certification criteria.
- The company is aware that notification of its withdrawal from the Eco-Lighthouse scheme must be submitted in writing by 31.12 if the company is not to be invoiced an annual service fee for the subsequent year. Such notification shall be sent to post@miljofyrtarn.no.
- The emission factors have been exclusively purchased by the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation for use in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal. They are made visible in the Portal with a view to transparency. It is not permitted to use and/or share the emission factors for calculating emissions in systems or climate accounting solutions other than the Eco-Lighthouse Portal.
Certification
- The company shall be aware of and accept that the certification process will be interrupted if the company has not completed the certification within 3 years from the formal start of this process. If this time limit is violated, the company will have to pay a new establishment cost.
- The company must agree that all costs related to certification are paid by the company and that the company will receive a separate invoice for the certification itself.
- The certificate is normally valid for three years. In order to maintain a valid certificate, the company must carry out a recertification before the certificate expires.
- The company must have an annual meeting with the certifier during the years when there is no formal certification meeting.
- The company must be aware that the certifier is not employed by the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation, and that the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is not liable for the work performed by the certifier.
- The company must be aware that if the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation becomes aware of serious deviations from the established criteria, the certificate can be revoked.
Agreement terms that apply specifically to those companies that use the head office agreement:
- The company understands that the head office model assumes that there is a function at the head office that coordinates the work and is responsible for meeting the established criteria on behalf of the entire organisation.
- The company’s head office understands that responsibility for the fulfilment of certain of the criteria established for certification shall be met by the head office on behalf of the underlying entities.
- The company is responsible for all users who are created within the company’s area in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal and can remove accesses that are no longer appropriate.
- In the event of significant changes in the organisation that may affect the certification status, it is the company’s responsibility to notify the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation and possibly renegotiate the agreement. Matters such as mergers, relocations and expansions / reductions in the number of underlying entities covered by the agreement, shall be specifically mentioned.
- Eco-Lighthouse is a certification scheme for use at the company / entity level. In larger organisations, effective environmental management will not be introduced until the entire organisation / group has been certified according to the relevant industry criteria that cover the significant environmental aspects of each individual underlying entity. In order for this to be verifiable and transparent, a separate certificate is issued for each certified underlying entity.
- The company declares that it is aware of and accepts that its Eco-Lighthouse certificate may be revoked if the established certification criteria have not been met, or if the company otherwise violates the applicable rules. This can apply to a single entity, parts of – or the Group as a whole, depending on the type of violation.
- For companies / national municipalities / county municipalities that use the head office model for certification, separate contract terms apply. These terms are described in a separate agreement that is signed before the start of the certification process.
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation’s processing of personal data
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is responsible for processing the personal data that we collect and store in connection with companies certifying themselves.
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation takes personal data security seriously and has routines and systems that ensure that we meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation encourages stakeholders to manage personal information themselves by logging on to the Eco-LighthousePortal. What personal data we store and how this data is processed is described in the Privacy statement for the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation https://www.miljofyrtarn.no/retningslinjer-for-personvern/
- The company shall be aware of and accept that the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation has administrator access to read the company’s information in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal.
- The company shall be aware of and accept that the certification body has access to read the company’s information in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal.
- The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation transfers business data from the Eco-Lighthouse Portal to other test environments in connection with the development and testing of solutions and quality assurance. Personal data is anonymised in the test environments.
- Employees of the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation and the certification body are subject to a declaration of confidentiality regarding sensitive data and information they gain access to, since it concerns companies registered in the Eco-Lighthouse Portal and their employees.
Disputes
The agreement is governed by Norwegian law and both parties accept Kristiansand District Court as a venue. This also applies after the termination of the agreement.
Entry into force of the agreement
This agreement is enforced with the consent of the Eco-Lighthouse Portal. The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation keeps the documentation of the consent process.