Consumers and Social Responsibility

Globally, consumers appear to be increasingly interested and concerned about social and environmental issues in addition to the more traditional concerns surrounding quality, availability of choice and price of products and service. It is within this context that ISO has decided to launch the development of a guidance standard on social responsibility.

The guidance standard will be published in 2008 as ISO 26000 and be voluntary to use. The standard will be applicable to all types of organizations, including business, NGOs, government, etc. It will provide guidance on how to operationalize social responsibility and, as such, will not be a standard for certification purposes.

There is a range of many different opinions among the various stakeholders on how the guidance standard should be operationalized. The purpose of this blog is to engage in a dialogue with consumers (particularly those in Canada) and invite their input in the development of the standard as it evolves over the next two years.

I look forward to your feedback and input!