ISO 26000 Guidance on

Social Responsibility
Development Status, June 2009
An Industry View

ISO 26000 Contents and

Players
David Felinski, Vice-President IFAN (International
Federation of Standards Users) and IFAN Expert to
ISO/TMB WG SR, and
Guido Guertler, ICC Observer to ISO/TMB WG SR
 Available Slide Series

1.The Project
2.ISO 26000 Contents and
Players
3.Applicability Aspects
4.ISO 26000 CD Vote by March 2009
5.Success Criteria
6.Risk of Failure
7.Tool: Check of Effectiveness
The present subset is the one marked in bold
 Outline
 Contents
 Working stages and comments
 An estimation of main users
 Who is drafting what for whom
 Players and Agendas
 About the Standard
 ISO 26000 “Guidance on Social
Responsibility”
 Target: To be applied by all types of
organizations

 Type of standard:
 International standard providing
guidance;
 NOT for third-party certification;

 NOT a Management System Standard

 ISO 26000 – Contents (1/8)
0 Introduction
1 Scope
2 Terms and definitions
3 Understanding SR of organizations
4 Principles of SR
5 Recognizing SR and engaging stakeholders
6 Guidance on SR subjects
7 Guidance on integrating SR throughout an
organization
Annex A: Voluntary initiatives and tools for SR
Annex B: Abbreviations
Bibliography
 ISO 26000 (2/8)
0 Introduction
Information on the content of the guidance standard
including an overview, an outline, and a table of core
subjects and issues of social responsibility.

1 Scope
Defines the content covered by the guidance standard and
identifies any limitations and exclusions.

2 Terms and definitions

Identifies and provides the meaning of key terms that are
of fundamental importance for understanding social
responsibility and using the Standard.
 ISO 26000 (3/8)
3 Understanding social responsibility
 The social responsibility of

organizations
 Recent trends in social responsibility

 Characteristics of social responsibility

 The state of social responsibility

 ISO 26000 (4/8)
4 Principles of social responsibility
Identifies a set of SR principles drawn from a
variety of sources

 Principle of accountability
 Principle of transparency
 Principle of ethical behavior
 Principle of respect for stakeholder
interests
 Principle of respect for the rule of law
 Principle of human rights
 Principle of respect for international norms
 ISO 26000 (5/8)
5 Recognizing SR and engaging
stakeholders

 General concepts and discussion

 Recognizing social responsibility
 Stakeholder identification and engagement
 ISO 26000 (6/8)
6 Guidance on SR core subjects
Provides separate guidance on a range of
core subjects/issues and relates them to
organizations.

 Organizational Governance
 Labor Practices
 Human Rights
 The Environment
 Fair Operating Practices
 Consumer Issues
 Community Involvement & Development
 ISO 26000 (7/8)
7 Guidance on integrating SR throughout an
organization
Provides practical guidance on implementing and
integrating SR in the organization, including policies,
practices, approaches, issue identification,
performance assessment, reporting and
communication.

 Relationship of an organization’s characteristics to

SR
 Understanding the SR of an organization
 Practices for integrating SR throughout the
organization
 Communication on SR
 Enhancing credibility regarding SR
 Reviewing & improving the organization’s actions
 ISO 26000 (8/8)
Annexes
 Annex A: Voluntary initiatives of social
responsibility
 Annex B: Abbreviations

Bibliography
Currently lists 125 documents! (13 ISO
documents and 112 “Authoritative
International Instruments”)
 ISO 26000 Volume

s be c o m e
It ha
c at i o n a l
an edu
m e n t o f
docu
100+
pages!

…..Warnings on too big a size exist

since Working Draft 2, late 2006…..
 Working Stages and
Comments
 Working Drafts 1, 2 and 3 caused
some 2.500 to 3.000 comments
each
 WD 4.1 received 5.000+ comments
 WD 4.2 got 5.000+ comments
(see also next slide)

 Committee Draft got 3.400+

comments
 Comments on Drafts
- Actual Numbers -
 1200 before any initial draft
 2140 on WD1
 5176 on WD2
 7225 on WD3
 4971 on WD4.1
 5200 on WD4.2
 3411 on CD1

 Most frequent comment:

“What happened to my comment?”
Distribution of 5.000+
Comments on WD4.2
 Comment “Resolution”
In view of the large number of comments,
they
 Were grouped into „key topics“

 In meetings, solutions were sought for new

language on these key topics

This process used was a way forward to
manage the large quantity of comments, and
designed to show progress, but it also lost a
lot of substance offered in the details.
Consequently many comments had to be
repeated, many of them several times.
An Estimation of Main Users
Industry and service organizations
stand
for 96% of all users.
Stakehol
der
Governme %
nt  1,5
Labor 
Consumer 1
s  0,5
36%
60% NGO  1
Services 36
Industry  60
 Who is drafting what for
whom?

60 % are not Industry & 4 % are not Industry &

Services Services

60% of WG SR experts represent 4% of

users, but have a say on what 96%
should follow
 Players and Agendas (1/2)
ISO member bodies’ strong support
 EU nations (strongest from Nordic
states, but many others too)
 Canada, the special case

 Developing countries (mostly Africa

and South/Central America + some

Oceana)
 D-Liaison orgs (for 75-80% of them,
leaning/approach & agenda [CSR] is the
same as that of Consumers & NGOs)
 Players and Agendas (2/2)
Stakeholder Groups
 Consumers and NGOs, the project originators:
generally aligned, and bellicose; using ISO to try and
effect social policy that governments have failed to
do
 SSRO (Services): less strident, but often aligned
philosophically with above; most diverse but often
aligned
 Government: often aligned with SSRO but prone to
vacillate depending on the issue; next to Industry,
least cohesive
 Labor: smallest group and spread too thinly to be
more effective; usually a relatively
reasonable/moderate approach and often aligns with
Industry positions
 Industry: by industry’s nature the most diverse
stakeholder group; difficult to attain consensus; often