"During the last ten years, there has been a general trend in environmental regulation away from prescriptive approaches toward less adversarial performance-based, voluntary, or "partnership" approaches, in part due to the growth of voluntary industry environmental codes of conduct. This article analyzes one of these voluntary industry programs, the ISO 14,000 Environmental Management Standard in terms of how it may support or adversely affect progress toward Cleaner Production, prevention-oriented, holistic environmental policy. While the ISO 14,000 standard has been claimed to be the new "green seal" for industry, it suffers from numerous fundamental problems, which include: 1) its focus on improving management rather than performance; 2) its definition of pollution prevention, which includes end-of-pipe controls; 3) its lack of access to information or public participation; 4) its lack of measurement or comparability across firms; and 5) its lack of integration of environmental and occupational safety and health. Most concerning are the proposals of several U.S. states to offer regulatory relief to ISO 14,000-certified companies. This could possibly lead to a reversal in the environmental gains won over the last twenty years. While some companies may gain from the ISO standard's focus on improving organizational ability to address environmental impacts, it is clear that the ISO standard will not help improve environmental quality without a continued strong role for regulation. "

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