4 - ISO 26000: Regulatory Cooperation in a Fragmented Field

Summary

Chapter 4 examines the cooperation between three international organizations (the ILO, UN, and OECD) and ISO in the ISO 26000 process. ISO 26000 is a management guidance standard in the area of social responsibility regulation. This area is highly fragmented with several dozen initiatives addressing one or several aspects of social responsibility such as labour rights or environmental protection. Considering the many public policy questions, the standard had to deal with, and given that ISO is a technical, mainly industry-based, standard-setter, it needed the legitimacy and expertise of the international organizations engaged in the field. Cooperation was a venue for ISO to access both. International organizations, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to benefit from the special ties ISO had with the industry to further spread both their own instruments, but also the message of responsible business behaviour more generally. The Chapter argues that one of the goals international organizations pursued was to harmonise existing regulatory frameworks and create a consistent message which would lead to path dependency effects within the business community.