The private, Geneva-headquartered International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) claims to be organised on democratic lines. This is because it works on a “one member one vote” basis among the national standards bodies that are its members. But some governments now fear that ISO is encroaching on their territory – democratically or otherwise.

The focus for these concerns is a proposed new international guidance standard on social responsibility – ISO 26000.

On Monday 18 May, participants in an ISO 26000 international working group meet for a week of talks in Quebec to hammer out agreement on key outstanding issues. Participants come from business, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and governments. A total of 91 countries are represented.

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