Interesting Discussion ISO to develop a Guidance Document (ISO 26000) on Social Responsibility - some object

ISO 26000: Social responsibility talks tread on government toes

Some governments fear a global social responsibility standard could distort national and international laws, says Halina Ward.
The private, Geneva-headquartered International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) claims to be organised on democratic lines. This is because it works on a “one member one vote” basis among the national standards bodies that are its members. But some governments now fear that ISO is encroaching on their territory – democratically or otherwise.

The focus for these concerns is a proposed new international guidance standard on social responsibility – ISO 26000.

On Monday 18 May, participants in an ISO 26000 international working group meet for a week of talks in Quebec to hammer out agreement on key outstanding issues. Participants come from business, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and governments. A total of 91 countries are represented.

China is one government that is very worried about the way ISO 26000 has shaped up since working group discussions began in 2005. Earlier this year China mobilised its embassies around the world to try to convince national standards bodies to block a proposal to take the text to the next stage, a Draft International Standard, after the Quebec meeting. China was unsuccessful, with roughly two-thirds of national delegations voting to move on.

Broad guidance

ISO’s planned social responsibility standard sets out wide-ranging guidance for all kinds of organisations. It covers issues from human rights and environment to community development and fair operating practices; all areas where governments have a great deal to say.

The proposed standard builds on the familiar idea of corporate social responsibility. But its central theme – “organisational social responsibility” – is new. The overall aim is to contribute to sustainable development.

ISO’s brand recognition and credibility give it potential to make a positive contribution to social responsibility. ISO standards are voluntary, but they frequently become benchmarks for good practice among businesses. They are often referenced in supply chain requirements. And many are absorbed into national regulations and standards.

Done well, ISO 26000 could drive competition among organisations for better social responsibility performance. Done badly, it could inadvertently further the global squeeze on small producers unable to meet the aspirations of its guidance.

An ISO social responsibility standard could matter very much. But if organisations consider it irrelevant or obtuse, it might not turn out to matter at all.

More than voluntary

ISO cannot legislate. But its standards are often a baseline for regulation at national level.

For example, an agreement between members of the World Trade Organization requires them in principle to use “relevant international standards” as a basis for many product laws. This means that if ISO guidance on social responsibility were considered “relevant” in a WTO dispute, it could effectively be forced on policymakers.

The US has spotted the issue and in September last year it brought the Office of its Trade Representative into ISO 26000 negotiations in Chile. So far the challenges of explaining the legal risk coupled with scepticism over its motivations have hampered US efforts to gain support for explicit WTO-proofing language.

It remains to be seen whether the new US administration gets further in Quebec. It may do: other countries including Peru and Canada as well as a number of non-governmental organisations have become more vocal in their concerns since the Chile meeting.

At the same meeting, the US also expressed concern that by using language from government commitments in the social responsibility standard, the resulting ISO guidance could distort international law.

China, along with some other countries – Belarus for example – is uncomfortable that participants in the ISO 26000 process are lifting language from intergovernmental agreements in areas such as human rights, labour and environmental protection.

Global norms

Most controversial is a proposal for text outlining a globally applicable set of minimum norms for organisational behaviour and setting a principle on how these should be applied.

Most ISO 26000 participants believe this is necessary for the standard to reflect good practice in social responsibility. However, since the norms currently proposed draw on international laws in areas such as labour, environment and human rights, the guidance is threatening to countries whose national laws differ.

Not all government participants are fearful. Some see opportunities to boost markets for green products. A few government experts, such as Sweden’s, work on sustainable development at city level or by integrating social responsibility into public procurement. For them, there is less to object to in the idea that the standard might directly inform government policy-making on social responsibility.

ISO plans to finalise the social responsibility standard in 2010. Once it is unleashed in the marketplace, it matters little what individual governments think of it: if it is adopted then like it or not, their economies will live with its effects.

Walking away from ISO 26000 is not a realistic option for governments. At the same time intergovernmental diplomacy is a clumsy lobbying tool for engaging with diverse non-governmental interests around the world.

Ultimately it is organisations in the marketplace, not governments, that will decide the outcome of ISO 26000’s tension between leadership by stakeholders and political leadership by governments.


Halina Ward is Director of The Environment Foundation, where she works on links between democracy and sustainable development. She has been representing the International Institute for Environment and Development in the ISO 26000 process.

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John Broomfield said:

Sustainability is long overdue and social responsibility it part of building a sustainable business especially at this time. Us capitalists have to bite the bullet if we are to avoid robbing our grandchildren and others of their resources/livelihoods to reward today's investors. In other words we have to consider the costs of not acting in a sustainable manner much as we currently do with investing in prevention to avoid the costs of failure. We need mathematical models that show the financial consquences of acting as if we can socialize our losses while capitalizing the gains. I doubt if a set of well-meaning international social responsibility guidelines will include such models. Instead, it may try to influence multinational companies to the extent that they replace or supplement governments around the world.

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ralphsulser said:

I think it is too late for any type documented standard like this to be considered for implementation. There are millions of people thrown out of work and more layoffs being planned. If people are put out of work and have no income to support their families, and make house payments, how could this affect "social responsibility". It would be a joke at this time with the massive layoffs, and the economy going down the tubes.

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JaneB said:

I agree with the value of mathematical models to show the financial consequences. I am not at all sure however that everything can be reduced to mathematics.

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Consensus was achieved among the multi-stakeholder participants in the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) at its latest meeting on the way forward for the future ISO 26000 standard.
The group's 7th plenary meeting, held in Québec City, Québec, Canada, on 18-22 May 2009, addressed issues stemming from the more than 3 000 comments submitted in a successful vote on the Committee Draft of the standard taken before the meeting. ISO 26000 is now moving to the status of a Draft International Standard by October 2009.
Progress on how to deal with key issues stemming from the ballot comments was the main outcome of.the Québec City meeting which brought together more than 300 experts from 60 countries and around 20 liaison organizations.
ISO 26000 will provide organizations with guidance on incorporating social responsibility into their operations. It is being developed by multi-stakeholder representatives, including a strong participation by developing countries. The number of developing countries in the WG is still increasing – it now includes 221 experts from 63 developed countries and 136 experts from developed countries.
The Québec meeting stakeholder dialogue resulted in moving ISO 26000 closer to completion on complex issues such as barriers to trade, human rights and user friendliness.
Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Chair of the Working Group Social Responsability, commented: "This was an outstanding meeting which included some 'passionate' debates. Nevertheless, the sense of justice and the fairness has never been closer and has allowed us to move the draft ISO 26000 to another crucial step in its path to publication."
Staffan Söderberg, WG SR Vice Chair added: "All in all, we worked approximately 7 000 man-hours during the week and it is small miracle to see 305 committed SR experts reach consensus on complex issues. We have really been able to enhance agreement on this draft guidance standard on social responsibility and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel."
The meeting was attended by Kevin McKinley, ISO Deputy Secretary-General, who commented: "It was a week-long effort when everything was done beforehand to prepare the stage for fulsome and transparent debate. The Working Group was able to focus intensively on resolving comments and further enhancing consensus on the document".
The 7th plenary meting was hosted by the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ – the Québec Standardization Bureau) in collaboration with Standards Council of Canada and the Ministère des Relations internationales du Québec (the Québec Ministry of International Relations).Québec Premier, Jean Charest, and the Minister of International Relations, Pierre Arcand, made welcome speeches to the participants..
In the spirit of social responsibility, the meeting was organized to be a “zero waste–zero carbon” event – the first of its kind for this WG.
The next meeting of the ISO/WG SR will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the first half of 2010. The publication of ISO 26000 is targeted for September 2010.
More information: Further information on the ISO/WG SR and ISO 26000 is available on its public Web site: www.iso.org/sr Its working documents are publicly accessible at: www.iso.org/wgsr

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The future International Standard ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, has reached an important phase in its development with its publication as a Draft International Standard (DIS).
A five-month balloting period (from 14 September 2009 to 14 February 2010) has now begun during which the national member bodies of ISO will be able to vote and comment on the text. Participating liaison organizations can also comment. The comments will be discussed at the next meeting of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR), which is developing ISO 26000, in May 2010. If the DIS vote is successful, the document, with eventual modifications, will then be circulated to the ISO members as a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS). If that vote is positive, ISO 26000 will then be published as an International Standard in late 2010.
ISO 26000 will provide harmonized, globally relevant guidance based on international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups and so encourage the implementation of best practice in social responsibility worldwide.

The introduction to the draft standard includes the following key messages, stating that ISO 26000:

• Provides guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility, the core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility and on ways to integrate socially responsible behaviour into existing organizational strategies, systems, practices and processes
• Is intended to be useful to all types of organizations in the private, public and non-profit sectors, whether large or small, and whether operating in developed or developing countries
• Is not a management system standard. It is not intended or appropriate for certification purposes or regulatory or contractual use.
• Is intended for use by those beginning to address social responsibility, as well as those more experienced with its implementation.

Ninety-one countries and 42 organizations with liaison status are participating in the ISO/WG SR under the joint leadership of the ISO members for Brazil (ABNT) and Sweden (SIS). Six main stakeholder groups are represented: industry; government; labour; consumers: nongovernmental organizations; service, support, research and others, as well as a geographical and gender-based balance of participants.

The guidance in ISO 26000 draws on best practice developed by existing public and private sector SR initiatives. It is consistent with and complements relevant declarations and conventions by the United Nations and its constituents, notably the International Labour Organization (ILO), with whom ISO has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure consistency with ILO labour standards. ISO has also signed MoUs with the United Nations Global Compact Office (UNGCO) and with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to enhance their cooperation on the development of ISO 26000.

• For more information on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, see the dedicated Web site: www.iso.org/sr. This Web site includes documents giving the background to ISO’s SR initiative, documents and press releases on the progress of the work and how it is being carried out, the membership and structure of the WG SR, how to participate in the development of ISO 26000, a newsletter, development timeframe, FAQs, contacts and other information. Many are available in several languages.
• Working documents including the DIS can be accessed at: www.iso.org/wgsr

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