[WSIS CS-Plenary] Standards: ISO steps towards social responsibility

[Nnenna]

Subject: <incom> Standards: ISO steps towards social responsibility


After the OOXML debacle, many countries (Brazil and South Africa,
among others) question the neutrality of the ISO, unclear whether this
will affect one of their latest projects as well, interesting
regardless imo esp. in relationship to fair it projects, which could
certainly use another lever, Soenke

<http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=6094&newsletter=24>

Standards: ISO steps towards social responsibility

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is one step
closer to launching a global standard for "social responsibility"
The ISO Social Responsibility Working Group took a small – but
potentially historic – step forward at its recent meeting in Santiago
de Chile on September 1-5, 2008.

Nearly 400 experts and observers from around the world agreed that
sufficient progress had been made in developing the draft
international standard on social responsibility for the "working
draft" to be taken to "committee draft" level.

In the process of ISO standards' development, this takes the draft
standard one stage closer to the wider consultation and voting phases
that could see it available for public use globally in 2010.

For readers unfamiliar with these negotiations, a short history of a
long story is in order.

Long road

Best known for its widely used technical and management standards, ISO
embarked in 2005 on its first "soft" standard - on social
responsibility.

As a new and controversial subject area for ISO, the mandate given to
the working group was to develop a standard by late 2008 that would
provide voluntary guidance to all organisations, public and private.

While there were proponents (especially from developing countries) who
wanted a standard that could be used for certification purposes – to
demonstrate their world class performance to increasingly picky
northern consumers and investors – others argued that ethical issues
were too soft and culture-defined for certification.

As a result, it was agreed that the standard would not be a management
system standard (like the popular ISO 14001 standard), and could not
be used for certification.

Since March 2005, there have been six negotiating sessions of the
Working Group on Social Responsibility. Experts and observers from six
groups – government, industry, labour, consumer organisations, NGOs,
and a group of academic, consultant, standards and other bodies – have
been working intensively on reaching consensus on what "social
responsibility" means, and what should go in the world's first
standard on the subject.

Arriving in Santiago, it was not clear to many negotiators whether
their Carmenera was half empty or half full. To many, the working
draft before them (known as WD4.2) was over due, over long, and over
done.

Kitchen sink

Difficulties in getting agreement on scope and content issues had
already meant that the original 2008 deadline would not be met. Coming
in at over 80 pages, excluding annexes, there was also hand-wringing
about whether all but the largest organisations would be inclined to
read the standard. Moreover, there was a sense that apart from not
mentioning the kitchen sink, the draft seemed dauntingly
comprehensive.

On the other hand, there was a sense that important and hard-won
consensus had been achieved on a number of fronts. For all its length,
the draft contained valuable and well-written guidance on core social
responsibility subjects. These included organisational governance,
human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating
practices, consumer issues and community involvement.

Moreover, it was common ground that the definition of social
responsibility – embracing such notions as the importance of
sustainable development, stakeholder expectations, compliance with
national and international law, and the need for organisation-wide
integration – provided a much needed level of clarity.

While everyone could point to weaknesses in the text, there was a
general sense that real progress had been made, and that it was time
to take the draft to a wider audience. By agreeing to move the draft
to "committee draft" status, following further amendments recommended
at the Santiago meeting, the draft standard will now be opened to
comments from ISO's 84 participating (and thus voting) national
standards bodies for comment.

How quickly ISO can complete this process remains to be seen. However,
as the recent release of a (certifiable) Portuguese social
responsibility management system has shown, there are some at the
national level who cannot wait any longer.

Amsterdam-based, Paul Hohnen consults, speaks and writes on
sustainability and CSR issues. www.hohnen.net. He is a member of
Ethical Corporation's editorial advisory board.
_______________________________________________
Nnenna Nwakanma 
Director, nnenna.org 
Consultants on Information, Communications, Technology and Events for Development 
Tel: +225 225 271 44 
Fax: +225 224 264 71 
Cel: +225 07 416 820 
nnenna at nnenna.org 
http://www.nnenna.org 
http://nnennaorg.blogspot.com


      
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