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

[Sidney Vianna]

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1294

The leadership of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) is now analyzing the results of a positive vote on the Draft International Standard (DIS) version of ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, before taking a decision on whether or not the document should now progress to the status of Final Draft International Standard (FDIS).
The vote, by national standards bodies (NSBs) which are members of ISO, closed on 14 February. More than two thirds of the ISO members participating in the development of ISO 26000 – known as "P-members" – voted in favour of moving the document to the FDIS stage, and less than one quarter of the total number of ISO member bodies (including members not participating in the ISO/WG SR) were against. These are the two numerical criteria laid down by the ISO/IEC Directives for consensus acceptance of a DIS.
However, before drawing final conclusions, the ISO/WG SR leadership will analyze the result further, including the comments received from ISO members and from organizations with liaison status to the working group. These liaison organizations are associations representing business, consumers or labour, and include both inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. They do not have voting rights, but can participate in developing ISO 26000 and comment on the document.
The voting results and comments are being analyzed, and a final decision is expected end of February.
If the decision is positive, the document will then be published with any modifications agreed on as an FDIS in the third or fourth quarter of 2010. The text of the FDIS cannot be prepared before the next meeting of the ISO/WG SR in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2010. The official target date for publication of ISO 26000 as an ISO International Standard is by the end of 2010, but the schedule is rather tight and it may be necessary to revisit this date at the Copenhagen meeting.
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 guidance in ISO 26000 draws on best practice developed by existing public and private sector SR initiatives.

The ISO/WG SR is made up of experts from ISO members (NSBs) and from liaison organizations. Membership is limited to a maximum of six experts per NSB and two experts per liaison organisation. In total, the group comprises 436 participating experts and 195 observers from 94 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organizations.

• For more information on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, see the dedicated Website: www.iso.org/sr. This Website 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 ISO 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

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Re: ISO to develop a Guidance Document on Corporate Social Responsibility - some obje

http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1299

The future ISO 26000 standard giving guidance on social responsibility has just passed another important development stage with confirmation that support by ISO's national members and by participating liaison organizations is strong enough for it to be progressed to a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS). This is the final stage in the development of an ISO standard before it is published as a fully fledged ISO International Standard.
In mid-February, ISO's national standards body (NSB) members voted in favour of moving the Draft International Standard (DIS) version to FDIS status. However, in order to also assess support from the 42 international liaison organizations participating in the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR), its leadership reviewed the views and comments of these organizations before formally proceeding to FDIS.
The liaison organizations include associations representing business, civil society NGOs, consumers or labour, and include groupings of both inter-governmental and non-governmental origin. They do not have voting rights, but have actively and directly participated in developing ISO 26000 and commenting on the document.
Following the positive mid-February vote, the leaders of the ISO/WG SR have concluded that there is the requisite support for registering the current document as ISO/FDIS 26000.
With this decision now formally confirmed, the ISO/WG SR will next focus on addressing the 2 650 comments received during the course of the vote from ISO members and liaison organizations in order to increase the level of consensus and the quality of the document even further.
With this objective in mind, the group's drafting task force will look into all comments received and prepare proposed ways forward on key topics identified for discussion among the ISO/WG SR experts at its next meeting to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2010.
After the meeting, a new revised document will be finalized based on the agreements reached in Copenhagen. This document will be circulated as an FDIS for a two-month ballot and, if approved on the FDIS vote, ISO 26000 could be published as an International Standard by the end of this year.
Announcing its decision and the path forward to the members of the ISO/WG SR, its leadership declared: "We take this opportunity to thank you all for the valuable comments submitted, and also to re-emphasize our expectation that all comments received will be given fair and equitable treatment in Copenhagen in order to further enhance consensus. By this we mean all comments, whether they were submitted by NSBs voting affirmative or negative, or whether they were submitted byliaison organizations."
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 social responsibility worldwide. The guidance in ISO 26000 draws on best practice developed by existing public and private sector SR initiatives and is intended to be useful to organizations large and small in both these sectors.
The ISO/WG SR is made up of experts from ISO members (NSBs) and from liaison organizations. Membership is limited to a maximum of six experts per NSB and two experts per liaison organisation. In total, the group comprises 436 participating experts and 195 observers from 94 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organizations.

• For more information on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, see the dedicated Website: www.iso.org/sr. This Website 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. A compilation of the comments received on the DIS is being added to this site.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

ISO 26000 on social responsibility approved for release as Final Draft International Standard

2010-05-26
The way is now open for the publication of ISO 26000, which gives guidance on social responsibility, as an International Standard by the end of year.
The multi-stakeholder ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR), which includes experts and observers from 99 ISO member countries and 42 public and private sector organizations, approved the draft ISO 26000 for processing as a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) at its 8th plenary meeting on 17-May 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The document is now being edited to take account of the consensus reached at the Copenhagen meeting, prior to which 2 482 written comments had been received for processing. ISO 26000 will be released for a two-month FDIS vote by ISO member countries in August-September, followed by publication as a fully fledged ISO International Standard by November.
The ISO/WG SR has a joint leadership provided by the ISO members for Brazil (ABNT) and Sweden (SIS). Its Chair, Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, commented after the successful conclusion to the Copenhagen meeting: "ISO 26000 will provide organizations in both public and private sectors with a new paradigm for helping them to operate in the socially responsible way that society now expects. It will assist them in achieving long-term economic benefits with minimal social costs and minimal harmful impacts on the environment."
Vice-Chair, Staffan Söderberg, declared: "It was a truly heart warming moment when the 100 pages finally found consensus and the 400 experts and observers stood up and clapped their hands. The ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility has delivered a fantastic result and it is time to hand over this valuable guidance standard to the market and all organizations out there."
ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele, speaking at the meeting's opening ceremony, paid tribute to the ISO/WG SR for its efforts which included eight meetings since the first in 2005 and the treatment of more than 25 000 comments.
He underlined the value of the broad stakeholder input that has gone into developing ISO 26000, including the significant input by developing countries: "One of the key arguments that resulted in the recommendation to proceed with the development of ISO 26000 was that such a broad subject would benefit from the widest participation possible and that using the ISO standards development process would maximize this involvement. One of the key groups advocating this argument was developing countries, and the point resonated with everyone."



He underlined that ISO 26000 is a guidance standard, not a specification document intended for third party certification, and that ISO would be vigilant in seeing that this was respected. The ISO Secretary-General reiterated the market expectations for ISO 26000, which include:

• Global agreement on SR definitions, and on the principles of SR
• Global agreement on the core subjects of SR
• Guidance on how to integrate SR throughout an organization.

The meeting was hosted by the ISO member for Denmark, Danish Standards, and the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, whose Minister, Brian Mikkelsen, commented: "We have today achieved broad global support on the meaning and practices of social responsibility. This is a huge step forward. Companies and organizations around the world will have a mutual starting point for working with social responsibility."

• For more information on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, see the dedicated Website: www.iso.org/sr. This Website 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 draft standard can be accessed at www.iso.org/wgsr.

Members of the ISO WG SR leadership team pictured at the Copenhagen plenary meeting (from left to right): Kristina Sandberg, Secretary; Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Chair; Staffan Söderberg, Vice-Chair; Eduardo Campos de São Thiago, Co-Secretary; with Sophie Clivio, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat. (Photo: Jorge E.R. Cajazeira).

 

[Sidney Vianna]

In the run-up to the publication of ISO 26000, the International Standard giving guidance on social responsibility, this video presents social responsibility through the eyes of children

 

[Sidney Vianna]

The ballot for the ISO 26000 FDIS started last July and it will end September 12[sup]th[/sup]. We should see the ISO 26000 document released before the end of the year. A long (however necessary) development and consensus building process. As long as this thread...

 

[Sidney Vianna]

http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1351

ISO 26000, which gives organizations guidance on implementing social responsibility (SR), has successfully passed the last development phase and been approved for publication as an ISO International Standard. ISO targets publication on 1 November.
Paying tribute to the "exemplary efforts" of the experts who developed the standard, ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele commented: "ISO 26000 will help organizations for whom operating in a socially responsible manner is more than 'just a nice idea' to implement social responsibility in a pragmatic way that targets performance. It will be a powerful tool to help organizations move from good intentions about SR to good actions."

ISO 26000 will provide harmonized, globally relevant guidance for private and public sector organizations of all types. The standard is the result of international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups with an interest in the subject and is designed to encourage the implementation of best practice in social responsibility worldwide. The document distils global agreement on:

• Definitions and principles of SR
• The core issues to be addressed in implementing SR
• Guidance on how to integrate SR throughout the operations of an organization.

A vote by ISO's worldwide membership of national standards institutes on the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) version of ISO 26000 closed on 12 September. It was approved by 94 % of the countries voting, and largely supported by the liaison organizations who also participated in its development, opening the way to publication as a fully fledged International Standard.

Development of ISO 26000 was launched in 2005. The project was carried out by the multi-stakeholder ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR), which included experts and observers from 99 ISO member countries – of which 69 were developing nations – and 42 public and private sector organizations. Six main stakeholder groups were represented: industry; government; labour; consumers: nongovernmental organizations; service, support, research and others, as well as a geographical and gender-based balance of participants. In all, some 400 people took part which made the working group ISO's biggest ever.

The ISO/WG SR has a joint leadership provided by the ISO members for Brazil (ABNT) and Sweden (SIS). Reacting to the result of the FDIS vote, its Chair, Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, declared: "One future day, organizations will look at ISO 26000 and say 'How could we have survived in business without social responsibility?' And all because a team of dreamers tried to imagine just what the future could be, and then worked hard for five years to achieve the vision. I am proud to have participated in the leadership of such a dream."

Vice-Chair, Staffan Söderberg, had this to say: "Five years' work and we have a consensus on a 100-page guide on social responsibility containing seven principles, seven core issues and seven steps for implementation. A standard will never be better than the process through which it was developed and it is in large part thanks to the multistakeholder development process of ISO 26000 that we have achieved the strong voting result in favour of this final text. Now we hand over this amazing document to the real agents for change – the people that use standards.”

ISO 26000 contains voluntary guidance and is not a specification document intended for third party certification like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. ISO has emphasized that it will be vigilant in seeing that this is respected.

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.

 

[howste]

"A standard will never be better than the process through which it was developed..."

Not a commentary on this particular standard, but... :mg:

 

[bobdoering]

If it ever becomes a requirement by customers, the short-cutting people will do will dwarf the short cutting people already try to do in the other ISO standards, e.g. with calibration, statistical controls, etc.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

ISO's CEO being interviewed. His views on ISO 26000:

 

[Sidney Vianna]

From http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_and_leadership_standards/social_responsibility.htm

ISO 26000 project overview



The International Standard ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, provides harmonized, globally relevant guidance for private and public sector organizations of all types based on international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups and so encourage the implementation of best practice in social responsibility worldwide.

• ISO 26000 will both add value to existing work on social responsibility (SR) and extend the understanding and implemention of SR by:
  • Developing an international consensus on what SR means and the SR issues that organizations need to address
  • Providing guidance on translating principles into effective actions
  • Refining best practices that have already evolved and disseminating the information worldwide for the good of the international community.

What is ISO 26000
Why is ISO 26000 important?
How will ISO 26000 help organizations?
What does ISO 26000 contain?
How does ISO 26000 relate to existing good work?
How did the ISO 26000 initiative come about?
Who developed ISO 26000?
When will ISO 26000 be published?
What will ISO 26000 achieve?
Who developed ISO 26000
ParticipationWhere can I find more information?


What is ISO 26000?


ISO 26000 is an ISO International Standard giving guidance on SR. It is intended for use by organizations of all types, in both public and private sectors, in developed and developing countries, as well as in economies in transition. It will assist them in their efforts to operate in the socially responsible manner that society increasingly demands.
ISO 26000 contains voluntary guidance, not requirements, and therefore is not for use as a certification standard like ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004.

Why is ISO 26000 important?


Sustainable business for organizations means not only providing products and services that satisfy the customer, and doing so without jeopardizing the environment, but also operating in a socially responsible manner.
Pressure to do so comes from customers, consumers, governments, associations and the public at large. At the same time, far-sighted organizational leaders recognize that lasting success must be built on credible business practices and the prevention of such activities as fraudulent accounting and labour exploitation.
On the one hand, there has been a number of high-level declarations of principle related to SR and, on the other, there are many individual SR programmes and initiatives. The challenge is how to put the principles into practice and how to implement SR effectively and efficiently when even the understanding of what “social responsibility” means may vary from one programme to another. In addition, previous initiatives have tended to focus on “corporate social responsibility”, while ISO 26000 will provide SR guidance not only for business organizations, but also for public sector organizations of all types.
ISO’s expertise is in developing harmonized international agreements based on double levels of consensus – among the principal categories of stakeholder, and among countries (ISO is a network of the national standards bodies of 163 countries).
ISO 26000 will distil a globally relevant understanding of what social responsibility is and what organizations need to do to operate in a socially responsible way.

How will ISO 26000 help organizations?



ISO 26000 will help all types of organization – regardless of their size, activity or location – to operate in a socially responsible manner by providing guidance on :

• Concepts, terms and definitions relating to social responsibility
• The background, trends and characteristics of social responsibility
• Principles and practices relating to social responsibility
• Core subjects and issues relating to social responsibility
• Integrating, implementing and promoting socially responsible behaviour throughout the organization and
• Its sphere of influence
• Identifying and engaging with stakeholders
• Communicating commitments and performance related to social responsibility.

What does ISO 26000 contain?



The contents of ISO 26000 is structured as follows:

• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 Scope
• 2 Terms and definitions
• 3 Understanding social responsibility
• 4 Principles of social responsibility
• 5 Recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders
• 6 Guidance on social responsibility core subjects
• 7 Guidance on integrating social responsibility throughout an organization
• Annex A – Voluntary initiatives and tools for social responsibility
• Annex B – Abbreviated terms
• Bibliography

The guidance provided in these sections is intended to be clear and understandable – even to non-specialists – as well as objective and applicable to all types of organization, including big business and small and medium-sized enterprises, public administrations and governmental organizations.

How does ISO 26000 relate to existing good work?


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.

How did the ISO 26000 initiative come about?


The need for ISO to work on an SR standard was first identified in 2001 by ISO/COPOLCO, Committee on consumer policy. In 2003, the multi-stakeholder ISO Ad Hoc Group on SR which had been set up by ISO’s Technical Management Board (TMB) completed an extensive overview of SR initiatives and issues worldwide.
In 2004, ISO held an international, multi-stakeholder conference on whether or not it should launch SR work. The positive recommendation of this conference led to the establishment in late 2004 of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) to develop the future ISO 26000 standard.

Who developed ISO 26000?


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

When will ISO 26000 be published


1 November 2010

What will ISO 26000 achieve?


ISO 26000 will integrate international expertise on social responsibility – what it means, what issues an organization needs to address in order to operate in a socially responsible manner, and what is best practice in implementing SR. ISO 26000 will be a powerful SR tool to assist organizations to move from good intentions to good actions.

Who developed ISO 26000


The membership of the ISO/WG SR was the largest and the most broadly based in terms of stakeholder representation of any single group formed to develop an ISO standard.
It was made up of experts from ISO members (national standards bodies – NSBs) and from liaison organizations (associations representing business, consumers or labour, or inter-governmental or nongovernmental organizations). Membership was limited to a maximum of six experts per NSB and two experts per liaison organisation.
In July 2010, the ISO/WG SR had 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries and 42 liaison organizations.

Participation

• Participating countries
• Observer countries
• Liaison organizations
• ISO internal liaisons

Where can I find more information?


In addition to the information in this section, which is to be regularly updated, background material on ISO 26000 and the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility can be accessed at www.iso.org/sr_archives.
This material includes documents giving the background to ISO’s SR initiative, newsletters on the progress of the work, the structure of the WG SR, a brochure in several languages on how to participate in the development of ISO 26000, development timeframe, contacts and other information.
Working documents of the WG can be accessed at: www.iso.org/wgsr.