ISEAL Codes of Good Practice for Social and Environmental Standards

• How do you know whether a standard reflects stakeholder priorities or is locally applicable?
• Does compliance with a standard result in real social and environmental improvements?
• Do social and environmental criteria constitute barriers to trade or discriminate against developing country producers?

The rapidly growing number of voluntary standards and labels emerging into the marketplace makes it difficult to differentiate credible standards from other claims. The ISEAL Alliance aims to address this issue by creating the tools necessary to improve how voluntary standards are set.

Standard-Setting Code

The ISEAL Alliance facilitated the development of a Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards to strengthen the credibility of social and environmental standards on the basis of how they are developed. By adhering to procedures that constitute good practices, standard-setting bodies help to ensure meaningful results from the application of their standards. In addition, a Code of Good Practice can serve as a minimum bar against which to measure the credibility of voluntary standards.

ISEAL members that engage in standard-setting adhere to the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards. This is an international, normative document that is applicable to all social and environmental standards and sets best practice in this field.

ISEAL facilitates peer reviews and internal assessments of compliance in standard-setting and provides additional guidance on implementing and adhering to the Code of Good Practice. Support is provided in particular to emerging initiatives who are encouraged to become Associate Members of the ISEAL Alliance.

Additional Codes of Good Practice

While important, standard-setting represents only one component of a credible system. Over the next five years the ISEAL Alliance will develop additional credibility tools, including at least two new Codes of Good Practice. The ISEAL Impacts Code, to be launched in 2010, will establish what impacts standards systems should measure and how to ensure comparability and consistency of results. Complying with this code will help standards systems to monitor the impact of their programmes and to provide the evidence they need to justify that these impacts are being delivered effectively and efficiently. The ISEAL Verification Code, to be launched by 2012, will define best practice for auditing, certification and accreditation in social and environmental contexts. This code will help standards systems to credibly back up their social and environmental claims in the marketplace.

How ISEAL Develops Codes of Good Practice

• By 2013, the ISEAL Alliance will develop at least two new Codes of Good Practice and revise its existing Standard-Setting Code.
• A Steering Committee of interested individuals guides the development of draft codes. Technical Committees of experts provide specific input along the way.
• A wide range of interested parties is consulted in the development of the draft code through online tools, teleconferences, regional meetings and field testing.
• The agreed set of good practices is finally signed-off by the ISEAL Stakeholder Council and revised periodically.

To join the public consultations on ISEAL Codes of Good Practice, sign up on our consultation page.