UPDATES BY ISSUE AREA

- Content of ISO's Social Responsibility Standard Beginning To Take Shape
- ISO Releases Draft International Standards on Water Management
- Miscellaneous News
--ISO Keeps Expanding Its Scope of Work - New Standards in Crisis Management and Fair Trade Being Considered
--New Environmental and Social Standards for the Financial Sector
--Pacific Institute Becomes ISEAL Alliance Affiliate Member

Content of ISO's Social Responsibility Standard Beginning To Take Shape

Expanding on an outline finalized during its 2005 meetings, ISO's Working Group (WG) on Social Responsibility (SR) is deeply immersed in the drafting the actual contents of the standard. Dubbed ISO 26000, a first Working Draft (WD 1) of the standard was circulated to the WG membership in March 2006 for comment. The WG then held its third plenary meeting in Lisbon, Portugal in mid-May. The main objectives of the Lisbon meeting were to resolve the more than 3,000 written comments submitted on WD 1 and to come away from the meeting with a second version of the document. On the procedural side, the WG worked to further define the operating framework that will enable full and balanced stakeholder participation and accountability in the ISO SR process. The WG has made notable progress in Lisbon and in the last few months, both with drafting the standard and the operational tasks. Highlights of accomplishments include:

• The WG has tentatively agreed upon a scope for the ISO 26000 standard. Should the draft scope remain unchanged, and if the guidance provided in the subsequent clauses of the standard actually delivers on this scope, ISO 26000 could be considered the most significant and meaningful standard ISO has ever produced.
• WG experts have reached consensus on a provisional list of subject areas to be covered in the standard: Environment; Human rights; Labour practices; Organisational governance; Fair business practices; Community involvement/society development; and Consumer issues.
• The Task Group responsible for drafting Clause 7 - Guidance for organizations on implementing SR has reached consensus on the clause's general structure. The main headers are:
  • Analyzing the context in which the organization operates
  • Integrating SR into organizational vision, policies, and strategies
  • Working with stakeholders
  • Integrating SR into organizations' daily practices
  • Reviewing performance improvement
  • Communication with respect to SR

• The WG finalized and approved two key operating procedures in the areas of: 1) balanced participation and rules concerning observers and special advisors; and 2) registration of experts and observers.
• Shortly prior to the Lisbon meeting, a group of 12 NGOs participating in the ISO SR initiative sent a letter to the ISO Central Secretariat expressing their concern over the current status of stakeholder participation in the process. Among other things, the NGO coalition proposed (and were granted) a side meeting with ISO's senior management at the WG plenary in Lisbon. Perhaps the most significant outcome of the side meeting among NGOs, ISO officials, and the WG leadership was the momentum it provided for the launch of an ISO SR Trust Fund.
  

Click here for a more detailed description and analysis of recent ISO SR decisions, outcomes, and areas of activity.

More information

ISO Releases Draft International Standards on Water Management

ISO's Working Group on Water Management, Technical Committee (TC) 224 released Draft International Standards (DISs) in April 2006. Three standards - ISO 24510 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater, ISO 24511 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater, and ISO 24512 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater - were circulated to the ISO member countries for comments and vote. The DIS or "enquiry" stage is the first time a draft ISO standard undergoes a review and ballot by the entire ISO membership, not just the member countries participating in the Technical Committee producing it. The standards are available for review and download at INNI's Draft International Standard page. Interested organizations are encouraged to submit comments to their respective national standards bodies or the INNI Secretariat before the comments deadline of September 11, 2006. TC 224 will meet from November 30 to December 3, 2006 in Punta Del Este, Uruguay to discuss and incorporate the comments received and to prepare the Final Draft International Standards for ballot. The final standards are scheduled for publication in mid-2007.

For more information on the contents of the ISO's water standards, read Robin Simpson's article. Simpson is the Senior Policy Advisor of Consumers International and has been participating in the TC 224's standards development process. Simpson contributed this article for INNI to share his analysis.

More Information

Miscellaneous News

ISO Keeps Expanding Its Scope of Work - New Standards in Crisis Management and Fair Trade Being Considered

In anticipation or in the face of major disasters, ISO is looking at the development of standards to improve crisis management . The first meeting of ISO Technical Committee 223, which has been provisionally named "Societal security," was held on May 10-12, 2006 in Sweden. TC 223 discussed and reached some basic agreements on the scope and structure of its future work, and will now prepare a business plan for its next meeting in November. The planned deliverable will either be International Standards or other ISO guidance documents that promote emergency preparedness, coordination during a crisis, and reconstruction and remedial action.

ISO's Consumer Policy Committee (COPOLCO) adopted a resolution in its May 2006 plenary meeting "invit[ing] Consumers International to develop a proposal for new technical work in fair trade, including certification, for consideration at the next meeting of COPOLCO in 2007."
There are already several established standards and certification systems in the area of Fair Trade, and if ISO decides to create new standards, the issue of coordination with the existing schemes will be a major concern.

New Environmental and Social Standards for the Financial Sector

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, adopted new environmental and social standards in April 2006. The new standards are the revised and enhanced version of the current requirements that IFC applies to private sector projects it finances in the developing world. The performance standards cover eight areas: Social & Environmental Assessment and Management System; Labor and Working Conditions; Pollution Prevention and Abatement; Community Health, Safety & Security; Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement; Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management; Indigenous Peoples; and Cultural Heritage. At the institutional level, IFC also adopted a new policy that would ensure greater disclosure of information to the public by both IFC and client companies.

The Equator Principles, a set of environmental and social guidelines for financial industry, was also updated July 2006 in accordance with the new IFC standards. This is a set of financial industry benchmarks for assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing, and are now applied by 40 leading commercial financial institutions which collectively represent some 80 percent of global project finance.

Pacific Institute Becomes ISEAL Alliance Affiliate Member

In order to enhance collaboration and coordination in its work on international environmental and social standards, the Pacific Institute, secretary for the INNI, recently became an Affiliate Member of the ISEAL Alliance. ISEAL is an association of leading international standard-setting, certification, and accreditation organizations that focus on social and environmental issues. Collaboration between the two organizations has been ongoing since the Institute provided research on certification and trade policy for ISEAL in 2004. Becoming a formal member of the Alliance will allow for closer and more strategic coordination with other ISEAL member organizations that are engaged in creating and promoting voluntary social and environmental standards.

The INNI Online Update is a quarterly bulletin on the activities of the International Organization for Standards. If you do not wish to receive future communications, please reply to this email message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

For problems or questions: newsletter_editor @ pacinst.org

This update was created by the Pacific Institute, 654 13th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612. Copyright 2004.