The benchmark BPF –Good Pharmacy Practices is based on the whole organizational framework for the procedures, processes and resources needed to demonstrate Quality in Pharmacies.

This standard for aims to direct the pharmacist to patient information so that they can make responsible decisions on the rational use of medicine.

This system allows pharmacies and pharmacists to better intervene in the Health System, assessing how and why activities are carried out, formalizing and documenting what has been done, organizing the approach to activities through procedural standardization and, above all, consistently satisfying patients.

As benchmarks of the subsequently created Quality Management System, we have opted, in addition to these Good Pharmacy Practices, for legislation which is in force in our country as well as the code of ethics for pharmacists.

When demonstrated externally, and once an independent external body’s qualification has been requested, the performance quality can be certified through an audit.

Certification of environmental management systems supported by the ISO 14001 reference standard is an essential tool for organizations that wish to achieve greater confidence among customers, employees, the surrounding community and society, by demonstrating a voluntary commitment to the continuous improvement of their environmental performance.

ISO 14001 adopts the process approach which incorporates the PDCA cycle of continuous improvement and integrates risk-based thinking and the life-cycle perspective. It can be adopted by any organization, public or private, regardless of its size or activity sector.

The standard ISO 20121 – Management system for the sustainability of events was developed to support events’ organizers of all kinds – sports, business, cultural, political – in integrating sustainability into their activities so as to guarantee a positive legacy following their realization.

ISO 20121 provides a framework for identifying, reducing and eliminating the potentially negative impacts of events in the environmental, social and economic spheres, such as the generation of large volumes of waste, material waste, excessive consumption of resources (water and energy) and problems for the surrounding communities, as well as for maximizing their positive impacts, such as the creation of a wide range of public, community and economic benefits, through better planning and improved processes.

It is applied to all members of the events’ industry supply chain, including organizers, event managers, stand constructors and logistics operators. The standard has a management system approach which will be fairly familiar for thousands of organizations around the world that adopt other certifiable standards such as ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management).

The ISO 14006 standard sets out guidelines to help organizations establish, document, implement, maintain and continuously improve the Ecodesign Management as part of an environmental management system.

An increasing number of organizations acknowledge the need to include environmental performance in the design of their products as a way of reducing environmental impacts and improving resource efficiency.

Organizations traditionally had a tendency to only take into account the impacts of the product at the production stage while neglecting the life-cycle perspective which is the basis of ecodesign.

ISO 14006 aims for an integrated process to reduce environmental impacts and to improve the environmental performance of products in a systematic way throughout their life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to the end of the product’s useful life.

This standard is easily and effectively integrated with ISO 14001, but it can also be useful for integrating ecodesign into other management systems. It is applied to any organization, regardless of its size or activity sector.

APCER provides services for the Verification of Environmental Management Systems and the Validation of Declarations of Conformity in accordance with European Regulation (EU) No. 1505, of 28th August 2017 – Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

EMAS’ goal is to promote the continuous improvement of organizations’ environmental performance by creating and implementing environmental management systems, assessing the performance of these systems, communicating information related to environmental performance and promoting open dialogue with the public and other stakeholders or interested parties, as well as the active participation of workers.

This service is based on the above-mentioned European Regulation, the requirements of which reflect a harmonisation with ISO 14001. It applies to any organization that is looking to improve its environmental performance and provide the public and other stakeholders or interested parties with relevant information on the results of its management of environmental aspects.

The key distinction between the EMAS Verification and the Environmental Certification is the Environmental Declaration of the organization who wishes to register with EMAS and obtain its validation. The Environmental Declaration includes, among other things, a description of the organization and its activities, products or services, its environmental policy, a brief description of its environmental management system and the results of the environmental programme, including performance indicators.

As for the benefits of EMAS Verification by APCER, it should be noted that, by integrating ISO 14001 and EMAS Verification, this service represents a simplification of efforts for the organizations concerned as it allows for both standards to be audited in one single audit conducted by APCER.

The European Union adopted Directive 2003/87/CE which established a mechanism for the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EETS).

Operators of installations which, between the years of 2013 and 2020, develop any activity listed in national laws and from which results greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), must:

• Possess a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permit (GGEP),
• Monitor and report related emissions in accordance with what is laid out in the respective Monitoring Plan under Regulation (EU) No. 601/2012,
• Submit a report by 31st March, which has been properly verified by an accredited verifier and which contains information about installation emissions occurred in the previous calendar year.

APCER, as the service provider for the verification of emission reports for the period from 2013 to 2020, assumes the obligations as set out in chapter II of Regulation (EU) No. 600/2012, obtaining and maintaining accreditation by the national accreditation body, the Portuguese Institute for Accreditation (IPAC).

APCER’s continued commitment to creating new skills aimed at satisfying the current and future needs of its Customers as well as its complete dedication to better serving its Customers, in a joint challenge of the non-stop search for sustainable excellence, lets us provide the GHG emission reports verification service.

A carbon footprint is defined as the total emissions caused by an individual, event, organization or product, expressed in tons of CO₂ orCO₂ equivalent per year. It includes direct emissions, such as those resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels in manufacturing, heating and transportation, as well as the emissions required to produce the electricity associated with the goods and services consumed. In addition, the concept of carbon footprint also often includes emissions of other greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Calculating the carbon footprint is one of the environmental management tools that allows organizations to determine GHG emissions and define compensation, control, reduction and mitigation measures for them. There are several different tools for calculating carbon footprints for individuals, companies and other organizations. Commonly used methodologies for calculating carbon footprints include:

• GHG Protocol (Greenhouse Gas Protocol) by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development,
• ISO 14064, which deals specifically with greenhouse gas emissions:
  • ISO 14064-1 at the organization level;
  • ISO 14064-2 at the level of projects and events;

• ISO 14067, for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions at product level.

Validation and verification of the carbon footprint are processes that ensure, respectively, that the calculations of greenhouse gas emissions are carried out on the basis of recognized methodologies and that the results presented accurately reflect the reality of the organization or project. The validation and verification of carbon footprint calculations by an external entity, such as APCER, allows organizations to stand out from their competitors by publishing more credible results and targets, attracting new clients and participating in investment programs and tenders with environmental requirements.

APCER offers support in calculating the carbon footprint, or in validating or verifying these calculations.

The end-of-waste status applies to waste which is subjected to a waste recovery operation, including recycling, through which waste is considered to be transformed into a raw material ready to be added to the manufacturing of products.

This “waste declassification mechanism” allows this waste to be used as a product without the administrative procedures associated with waste management being applied to them, easing and simplifying ways of using the substances, objects or products.

The end-of-waste status can apply to specific waste after it has been subjected to a recovery operation, provided that compliance with pre-defined criteria has been demonstrated.

Community end-of-waste status criteria have been published for the following materials: iron, steel and aluminium scrap (Regulation (EU) No. 333/2011), glass cullets (Regulation (EU) No. 1179/2012), copper scrap (Regulation (EU) No. 715/2013), recovered plastic (Portuguese Decree No. 245/2017 of 2nd August) and rubber material from used tyres (Portuguese Decree No. 20/2018 of 17th January).

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The ISO 45001 – Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements with guidance for use standard is intended to be a tool to help establish and improve working environments in terms of health and safety, prevent accidents and, in many cases, surpass existing legislation.

Building on the high-level framework of the ISO – International Organization for Standardization, ISO 45001 allows for easy integration with other implemented management systems, as with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, among others.

Portuguese Decree-Law No. 150/2015 of 5th August transposes Directive 2012/18/UE into national law and establishes a regime to prevent and control serious accidents involving hazardous substances and to limit their consequences for human health and the environment.

This document applies to all establishments where specific hazardous substances can be found, in quantities which are equal to or greater than those specified in Annex I of the document. This Decree-Law covers hazardous substances in parts 1 and 2 of the same annex.

It revokes Decree-Law No. 254/2007 of 12th July, amended by Decree-Law No. 42/2014, and is the main amendment introduced to adapt annex I – which predicts the categories of hazardous substances – to the classification system for substances and mixtures defined by Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008, by the European Parliament and the Council, of 16th December 2008 (CLP).

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