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2010/02/17

Remarkable breakthrough for Social Responsibility: the draft version of the future ISO 26000 international standard is approved

The draft international standard ISO 26000 "Guidance on Social Responsibility of organisations" has just been approved by two-thirds of the ISO member bodies* which took part in the vote. AFNOR, the French representative for standardisation at ISO, voted in favour of this text, drawn up on a consensual basis and which defines social responsibility. This vote constitutes an important step in the drafting process of the ISO 26000 standard whose publication is scheduled for the end of 2010.

At the end of 2009, AFNOR organised, like for all standards, a public enquiry inviting all players (authorities, enterprises, associations, trade associations, consumer representatives, etc.) or simple citizens to voice their opinion on the ISO 26000 draft standard.

The aim of the ISO 26000 standard is to define and clarify the concept of social responsibility and to make it applicable to any type of organisation (enterprises, local or regional authorities, trade associations, associations…) It is based on two basic principles: on the one hand, the willingness of the organisation to assume responsibility for the impacts of its activities and its decisions on the environment and on society and, on the other hand, to be accountable for it.

86 countries voted on the draft, a somewhat high participation, thus illustrating to what extent countries have rallied round this issue of social responsibility.

In this draft standard, France was able to share the basic elements of its vision of social responsibility, like for example the need to comply with the international texts (Fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), etc.) or the importance for organisations to dialogue with the players of their environment (stakeholders). It therefore voted in favour of the draft text. A large number of French-speaking countries also cast a positive vote, thereby showing their commitment to common universal objectives like Human rights and Sustainable development.

All comments delivered at the time of this vote by the ISO member bodies will be examined in Denmark from May 15th to 21st, 2010 in order to end up with the final draft international standard (FDIS). The final vote on the FDIS version will take place over a period of 2 months during the summer of 2010 in view of its publication as an international standard around the end of 2010.

The ISO 26000 standard is being drawn up within ISO, International Organization for Standardization, by over 500 experts representing 90 countries, together with forty or so international organisations (International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Global Compact, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Global Reporting Initiative-GRI, etc. The French Committee, represented by AFNOR, gathers together over a hundred or so organisations (enterprises, authorities, associations, trade associations, consumer representatives, etc.).

The international draft standard (DIS 26000) can be accessed via: www.afnor.org (French only)