ISEAL Alliance

Following a year-long consultation, the ISEAL Board approved version 5.0 of the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code in January, coming into force immediately. The new rules strengthen a number of criteria in this international reference document for good standard-setting practices.

The standard-setting process is at the heart of each social and environmental standards system. Its strength determines the acceptance and ultimately the impact of any certification scheme. Since 2007, nine leading international standards systems have demonstrated compliance with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards.

The new version of the code has seen a major update to its structure, introducing separate normative sections on the standards development process and the standard content. In addition, many former recommendations (‘should’) have been elevated to requirements (‘shall’). New requirements include:

• Risk assessment to form part of the terms of reference for standards development
• Public summary to inform stakeholders about the process
• Formalisation of stakeholder mapping
• Hierarchical standard structure
• Transition period for the implementation of new or revised standards
• Need to attribute or cite original sources in a standard

In total over 300 contributions by more than 40 different organisations were incorporated in the revision process in 2009. The next review process is scheduled for 2013. Comments and suggestions are welcome anytime at consultation [at] isealalliance [dot] org.

• ISEAL Standard-Setting Code Version 5.0
• Summary of the Code Revision 2009
• Organisations in compliance with the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code