ISO to develop 'value added' social responsibility guidelines

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has decided to develop a so-called social responsibility (SR) guidance standard which aims to add value to existing inter-governmental agreements in this area, such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other UN conventions. As some ISO members were opposed to the use of the new standard in official certification, it will only take the form of guidelines or recommendations.

ISO's decision followed a conference on SR in June, which brought together more than 300 stakeholders from 66 countries, representing business, government, labour, consumers, international and nongovernmental organisations. This included delegates from 33 developing countries. The conference was meant to be a testing ground to determine whether the organisation should develop a standard on SR. Discussions were based on a report delivered after 18 months of work by a multi-stakeholder ISO advisory group. ISO's Deputy Secretary General praised the agreement that emerged at the conference: "When you get that degree of consensus, you know you have a very solid piece of work," he said.

In a press release on 29 June, ISO acknowledges that "social responsibility involves a number of subjects and issues that are qualitatively different from the subjects and issues that have traditionally been dealt with by ISO". Yet, the Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented that "ISO's decision is based on a thorough analysis of trends and initiatives relating to social responsibility and the active involvement of all interested groups of stakeholders".

ISO prides itself on developing new standards only when there is a clear market demand for them. Successful ISO standards include the ISO 9000 (quality management principles) and ISO 14000 series (environmental management systems).

ISO members have until mid-August to refer candidates to the SR working group. In the meantime, a task force has until September to propose the terms of reference and operating processes for the working group. An ISO spokesperson has told EurActiv that to all intents and purposes, work would begin in early 2005 and is expected to take two to three years to conclude.