<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:garamond,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">Subject: <incom> Standards: ISO steps towards social responsibility<br><div style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br>
After the OOXML debacle, many countries (Brazil and South Africa,<br>among others) question the neutrality of the ISO, unclear whether this<br>will affect one of their latest projects as well, interesting<br>regardless imo esp. in relationship to fair it projects, which could<br>certainly use another lever, Soenke<br><br><<a href="http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6094&newsletter=24" target="_blank">http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6094&newsletter=24</a>><br><br>Standards: ISO steps towards social responsibility<br><br>The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is one step<br>closer to launching a global standard for "social responsibility"<br>The ISO Social Responsibility Working Group took a small – but<br>potentially historic – step forward at its recent meeting in Santiago<br>de Chile on September 1-5, 2008.<br><br>Nearly 400 experts and observers from around the world agreed
that<br>sufficient progress had been made in developing the draft<br>international standard on social responsibility for the "working<br>draft" to be taken to "committee draft" level.<br><br>In the process of ISO standards' development, this takes the draft<br>standard one stage closer to the wider consultation and voting phases<br>that could see it available for public use globally in 2010.<br><br>For readers unfamiliar with these negotiations, a short history of a<br>long story is in order.<br><br>Long road<br><br>Best known for its widely used technical and management standards, ISO<br>embarked in 2005 on its first "soft" standard - on social<br>responsibility.<br><br>As a new and controversial subject area for ISO, the mandate given to<br>the working group was to develop a standard by late 2008 that would<br>provide voluntary guidance to all organisations, public and private.<br><br>While there were proponents (especially from developing countries)
who<br>wanted a standard that could be used for certification purposes – to<br>demonstrate their world class performance to increasingly picky<br>northern consumers and investors – others argued that ethical issues<br>were too soft and culture-defined for certification.<br><br>As a result, it was agreed that the standard would not be a management<br>system standard (like the popular ISO 14001 standard), and could not<br>be used for certification.<br><br>Since March 2005, there have been six negotiating sessions of the<br>Working Group on Social Responsibility. Experts and observers from six<br>groups – government, industry, labour, consumer organisations, NGOs,<br>and a group of academic, consultant, standards and other bodies – have<br>been working intensively on reaching consensus on what "social<br>responsibility" means, and what should go in the world's first<br>standard on the subject.<br><br>Arriving in Santiago, it was not clear to many
negotiators whether<br>their Carmenera was half empty or half full. To many, the working<br>draft before them (known as WD4.2) was over due, over long, and over<br>done.<br><br>Kitchen sink<br><br>Difficulties in getting agreement on scope and content issues had<br>already meant that the original 2008 deadline would not be met. Coming<br>in at over 80 pages, excluding annexes, there was also hand-wringing<br>about whether all but the largest organisations would be inclined to<br>read the standard. Moreover, there was a sense that apart from not<br>mentioning the kitchen sink, the draft seemed dauntingly<br>comprehensive.<br><br>On the other hand, there was a sense that important and hard-won<br>consensus had been achieved on a number of fronts. For all its length,<br>the draft contained valuable and well-written guidance on core social<br>responsibility subjects. These included organisational governance,<br>human rights, labour practices, the
environment, fair operating<br>practices, consumer issues and community involvement.<br><br>Moreover, it was common ground that the definition of social<br>responsibility – embracing such notions as the importance of<br>sustainable development, stakeholder expectations, compliance with<br>national and international law, and the need for organisation-wide<br>integration – provided a much needed level of clarity.<br><br>While everyone could point to weaknesses in the text, there was a<br>general sense that real progress had been made, and that it was time<br>to take the draft to a wider audience. By agreeing to move the draft<br>to "committee draft" status, following further amendments recommended<br>at the Santiago meeting, the draft standard will now be opened to<br>comments from ISO's 84 participating (and thus voting) national<br>standards bodies for comment.<br><br>How quickly ISO can complete this process remains to be seen. However,<br>as the
recent release of a (certifiable) Portuguese social<br>responsibility management system has shown, there are some at the<br>national level who cannot wait any longer.<br><br>Amsterdam-based, Paul Hohnen consults, speaks and writes on<br>sustainability and CSR issues. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hohnen.net">www.hohnen.net</a>. He is a member of<br>Ethical Corporation's editorial advisory board.<br>_______________________________________________<br><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64); font-weight: bold;">Nnenna Nwakanma </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">Director, nnenna.org </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">Consultants on Information, Communications, Technology and Events for </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">Development </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 127,
64);">Tel: +225 225 271 44 </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">Fax: +225 224 264 71 </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">Cel: +225 07 416 820 </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">nnenna@nnenna.org </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">http://www.nnenna.org </span><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);">http://nnennaorg.blogspot.com</span><div><br></div><br></div></div></div><br>
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