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UNCLAS LONDON 001627 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD WTRO EFIN UK
SUBJECT: UK SHARES USG CONCERNS RE ISO 26000 DRAFT 
 
REFTEL:  SECSTATE 55239 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. The UK shares the concerns outlined in the reftel non-paper. 
They have just received a new working draft 4.2 of ISO 26000.  It 
has not yet been reviewed by the government or discussed with the UK 
ISO Working Group, but it appears to raise the same concerns as the 
prior draft.  This is the draft that will be discussed at the next 
ISO meeting in Santiago, Chile next September.  We delivered the 
non-paper to contacts in the Foreign and Commercial Office (FCO), 
the Department for International Development (DIFID), and the 
department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform (BERR). 
BERR is the lead UK agency regarding ISO 26000 and Tony Pedrotti, 
Director - Sustainable Development & Regulation Directorate at BERR 
outlined the above UK government position to Econoff.  Pedrotti said 
he will contact the USG ISO representative in Santiago to discuss 
the common U.S. and UK concerns raised by the ISO 26000 working 
draft.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. The government member of the UKWG is Tony Pedrotti, Director, 
Sustainable Development & Regulation Directorate at BERR.  We gave 
the non-paper to Pedrotti on June 2 and he gave his comments on June 
¶11.  Pedrotti said he had attended the last two meetings of the 
UKWG.  He said the UK government understands and shares the concerns 
described in the non-paper.  He said that ISO 26000 was intended to 
be a guidance standard rather than a management standard.  He said 
the objective of guidance standards is purely to raise awareness of 
an issue whereas management standards are very specific and are 
intended to mandate strict compliance.  Pedrotti said that there 
were those who wanted ISO 26000 to go well beyond being a guidance 
standard, including a member of the drafting committee. 
 
¶3. Pedrotti said that he is responsible for advising other UK 
government departments regarding developments on ISO 26000.  He said 
he had just received the new working draft 4.2 of ISO 26000 that he 
would circulate through Whitehall to key contacts at all government 
departments.  These key contacts will circulate the new draft within 
their departments and provide both policy and drafting guidance for 
the next meeting of the UKWG.  The next international meeting to 
discuss ISO 26000 will be in Santigao, Chile next September, and it 
is this draft that will be discussed at that meeting.   He said he 
would get in touch with the USG representative to discuss the shared 
concerns on ISO 26000 prior to the next ISO meeting in Santiago in 
September. 
 
¶4.  In addition to passing the non-paper to the UKWG and BERR, 
Econoff sent the non-paper on May 28 to contacts at the Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International 
Development (DIFID).   Both DIFID and the FCO responded that they 
had no involvement in the ISO standards process and referred me to 
the government representative at BERR. 
 
¶5. Econoff also passed the non-paper on May 28 to Monika Green who 
manages the UK working group on ISO 26000 (UKWG).  Green works at 
the BSI Group, (formerly the British Standards Institute) the 
independent product testing and standards-setting organization in 
the UK.   The UKWG is made up of representatives from each of the 
six identified and agreed stakeholder categories spelled out in 
reftel (industry, government, labor, consumers, NGOs, and Service 
Support Research and Others. Green would not identify any of the six 
UKWG members by name, but said the six stakeholder groups were 
represented as follows. 
-Industry  Precast Concrete Association 
-Government  Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) 
-Labor   Trade Union Council 
-Consumers  Private individual 
-NGOs   Private Individual 
-SSRO   Private Individual 
 
TUTTLE