Work for the future – ISO 26000
The development of the future ISO 26000 standard giving guidance on social responsibility has reached a positive turning point in terms of consensus and trust among the broad base of participating stakeholders.
This was the opinion of the leadership of the ISO working group on social responsibility (ISO/WG SR) at the end of its fourth plenary which took place between 29 January and 2 February in Sydney, Australia. Some 275 people from 54 ISO member countries and 28 international organizations attended including representatives from the government and non-governmental organizations as well as an increased representation from developing countries.
Core issues were agreed, grouped in the following four clusters and each assigned a drafting team:
- environment
- human rights and labour practices
- organizational governance and fair operating practices
- consumer issues and community and society development
The work is now continuing in order to produce a third working draft for circulation and comment before the fifth WG SR meeting later this year. At this stage, the need is to build consensus among individual experts, while the next stage will aim to build consensus among the national standards bodies and international organizations participating.
Vice-Chair Staffan Söderberg, nominated by the ISO member for Sweden, agreed that: ‘The Sydney meeting will be the one remembered as the turning point that put us on the right road.’
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