ISO 26000

Last updated: 8 February 2010

ISO SR Working Group Experts from a range of stakeholder categories announce their support for ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility

ISO 26000 was designed to be a comprehensive and universally recognized frame of reference that harmonises language and approach towards social responsibility and sustainable development. This multi-year, multi-stakeholder international effort should be brought to a successful conclusion this year.

Since 2005, hundreds of experts from industry, NGO, labour, governments, academia and consumer organisations have been gathering together at ISO SR working group meetings; seeking to find the precise right wording for a globally accepted guidance standard that would define the scope of social responsibility, for enterprises and other organisations. Many more hundreds have been contributing through their national mirror committees and stakeholder groups.

After five years of working together through consensus, the results are good. We are therefore both surprised and disappointed to learn of last-minute moves to halt the standard moving forward. Concerns have been raised about its length and its readability. Others complain about the standard not being concrete enough.

We realise that improvements are always going to be possible. We do not believe however that it is either realistic or desirable to reinvent this standard or that a new effort will result in anything fundamentally different from what we have achieved.

We call on all ISO Member Bodies to support the current Draft International Standard (DIS) to Final Draft International Standard (FDIS). Whilst recognising that ISO 26000 can still be improved, we the undersigned feel that it is time to let the organisations that will use this standard make their contribution. In common with every other International Standard that has been developed by ISO, this will be where the guidance we have worked so hard together to achieve, is applied and where subsequent improvements can be made based on experience.

Again we call on all to bring this immense effort to a successful conclusion this year by voting yes.

Organisations that have signed their support for the ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility:

• Ethos Institute
• Instituto Latinoamericano de la Calidad
• Red Puentes, Uruguay
• Organizacion de Consumidores y Usuarios de Chile (ODECU)
• Equador Tribuna Ecuatoriana de Consumidores y Usuarios
• Swedish Consumer Agency
• Consumer Focus
• Associazione Consumatori Utenti (ACU ONLUS), Italy
• Alliance of Social and Ecological Consumer Organisations (ASECO)
• YLKI, Indonesia
• ALLDC, France
• Consumers Association of Macedonia
• Federation of Consumers, Bulgaria
• PROFECO, Mexico
• Singapore Consumers Association
• Foundation for Consumers Thailand
• Danish Consumer Council
• Swedish Consumer Association
• Consumers International
• Consumer VZVB, Germany
• Malaysian Standards Users

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