ISO 26000 Standard is almost ready

After nearly a decade of wrangling, the ISO 26000 standard should be approved this year. The guidance standard will be published in 2010 as ISO 26000, and will be voluntary to implement. It will not include requirements, and thus will not be a certification standard.

It has been a long trip, after a nine-year process that has included five years of worldwide consultations and negotiations, but the first ISO standard on social responsibility -ISO 26000 -appears set to be launched by the end of this year.

The draft ISO 26000 guidance standard has been developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation in consultation with stakeholders and experts from 99 ISO member countries and 42 public and private sector organizations. In a few words, they approved the draft ISO 26000 for processing as a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) at its 8th plenary meeting, 17-21 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 Sderberg, 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.

The guidance standard will be published in 2010 as ISO 26000 and be voluntary to implement. It will not include requirements, and will thus not be a certification standard.

But why is another social responsibility standard needed? Hundreds of standards have proliferated while ISO 26000 was being negotiated over the past decade. So, how is ISO 26000 different from numerous other standards? Developers of the ISO 26000 social responsibility standard say it will embrace existing local standards rather than supersede them. A draft global standard for social responsibility provides a comprehensive framework, and addresses the full range of social and environmental subjects to promote sustainable development for all types of organizations. It is not intended for third-party certification, and is intended to spur voluntary initiatives.

The need for organizations, both in public and private sectors, to behave in a socially responsible way is becoming a generalized requirement of society. It is shared by the stakeholder groups that are participating in the WG SR to develop ISO 26000: industry, government, labour, consumers, non-governmental organizations and others, in addition to involving geographical and gender-based balance.

ISOs general principles include compliance with the law, respect for internationally recognized instruments -in fact it embraces the majority of international standards — recognition of stakeholders and their concerns, accountability, transparency, sustainable development, ethical conduct, precautionary approaches, respect for fundamental human rights, and respect for diversity.

To summarize the ways ISO 26000 could be used includes examples like: a branding/marketing tool for organizations, a political lever for activist groups, a framework for prioritizing initiatives, a cost-setting to be internalized in operations, a framework for consultants to build indicators/indexes and benchmarking tools, and a framework for identifying research needs.

After the launch, it is up to all stakeholders to make it useful and meaningful for all.