EDM Electronic Data Management is an interconnected system of Internet applications and databases to support complex processes for environmental protection-related documentation, notification and reporting obligations.
EDM offers companies a legal certainty when fulfilling their obligations. The comprehensible and transparent presentation of the results enables authorities at all administrative levels to enforce individual legal provisions efficiently, and comprehensive evaluations create the basis for steering measures in politics and administration.
Equal treatment of all obligated parties, the greatest possible transparency paired with an emphasis on individual data protection requirements and the use of state-of-the-art technologies make EDM the central e-government initiative of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK).
Environmental protection is important to us. Ambitious environmental policies are reflected in a variety of laws and ordinances. This diversity also shows in the BMK's central e-government initiative. In recent years, the EDM has been able to put 14 Internet-based e-Gov applications into operation, the content of which ranges from "End-of-Life Vehicles? to the ?Central Radiation Protection Register?. Despite the diversity of these regulations, the EDM with its central master data management provides the common basis for all applications.
Only the central administration of (legal) entities and persons, sites and facilities allows the use of diverse synergies and offers companies, administration, and also the public a transparent source of information on the type and extent of environmentally related activities.
The diversity of EDM applications - which is often viewed critically - shows, on the one hand, that there is practically no economic sector that is not concerned with environment-related legal provisions and the resulting reporting and documentation obligations, and, on the other hand, the steady development of the BMK's eGovernment initiative, which has now been going on for almost a decade.
Sensible requirements of modern environmental legislation that have been developed with environmental policy consensus - such as extended producer liability for packaging, electrical appliances and end-of-life vehicles or, for example, the administration of emission rights - require the timely availability of a wide range of information and comprehensible transparency to prevent "free riders". This would not be possible without the use of the internet and state-of-the-art technologies.
At the same time, rapid advances in information technology pose a challenge for e-government applications. In between "official" constancy and rapid IT-technical development, it is the consistency of the development team, the increased commitment over the years and the good cooperation between all administrative levels that guarantee further improvements of the EDM services in the future.