New Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility ISO26000 approved! 


Voting and comments on the new guidance standard on Social Responsibility ISO 26000 were approved on 12 September 2010, with the international vote indicating strong support from ISOs member countries.  The Standard is due for publication November 2010. 
 

The standard represents an ambitious undertaking  - the development of an international guidance standard - as developed by standards bodies around the world, on Social Responsibility.

“The objective of social responsibility is to contribute to sustainable development.”

The final working group of the standard was held in Copenhagen in May 2010. Here more than 90 countries including Australia (and the Secretariat for the Global Compact Network Australia) were represented.  Agreement on cross cutting issues such as an organisation's  “sphere of influence”  and the environmental “ precautionary principle” were hammered out.

The ISO 26000 process has raised a host of interesting and complex issues around global policy, distinctions between ‘private’ and ‘public’ global governance, potential trade implications and possible impacts on delicately balanced intergovernmental agreements.

This will be an area to watch.  

Read more on the guidance standard here.


An Introduction to Linkages between UN Global Compact Principles and ISO 26000 Core Subjects

The UN Global Compact welcomes the new guidance standard and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ISO to this effect. The following mapping document between the Global Compact's 10 principles and the ISO 26000 subject areas has been developed to further assist Global Compact Signatories in making the way clear,  including a high-level overview of the key linkages between the UN Global Compact’s ten principles and the core subjects of social responsibility defined by ISO 26000. (UNGC). Download here.


Global Compact Network Australia is interested to hear if its signatories and members would be interested in participating in a workshop on the new standard and its relationship to the Compact. Contact the Secretariat Global Compact Network Australia here for feedback: secretariat@unglobalcompact.org.au

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