The International Organization for Standardization has assigned representatives of Brazil and Sweden to lead the working group that will develop its social responsibility (SR) standard.

ISO deliberately paired Sweden, an industrial country with Brazil, a developing country, to encourage participation by developing nations on ISO committees. In a recent message, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed ISO’s decision to develop a standard on social responsibility, describing it as “an initiative which dovetails well with the universal principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labor conditions, the environment and anti-corruption.”

ISO will soon issue a new work item proposal to its members for the SR standard development. Member bodies participating in the development will be encouraged to nominate up to six experts representing the following categories of stakeholders: industry, government, labor, consumer, nongovernmental organizations and others. The designated working group will then develop a draft standard that represents the collective views of the experts.

ISO expects to publish the new standard in 2007. For more information, visit www.iso.org.

 …