The Global Compact Office has issued a note to emphasize that its request to remove the reference to the Compact from the annex of the ISO 26000 standard should not be interpreted as a general disapproval of the standard. Last week, the Office released part of an exchange of letters between Georg Kell, the Compact's executive director, and Rob Steele, secretary-general of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In a letter dated 16 July, Mr. Kell explained that his request for removal of the reference to the Compact from the annex of the ISO 26000 standard had repeatedly been "misconstrued as a general disapproval of ISO 26000". "This is simply not the case", Mr. Kell said. The conciliatory tone of the letter contrasts sharply with that of the letter sent to ISO about a month ago, in which the Office complained about the decision of the ISO 26000 Working Group to not include references to "the world’s foremost social responsibility initiative" in the text of the standard.
In a reply to Mr. Kell's last letter, ISO's secretary-general appeared to welcome the change in tone. Mr. Steele expressed his organization's appreciation for the Global Compact's support and contribution to the development of ISO 26000, particularly through the work of its local networks. "I am pleased that, on the whole, you view that there is substantial consistency and complementarity between the current draft of the ISO 26000 and the Global Compact ten principles," Mr. Steele wrote.
© Photo by AKY.
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