ISO Focus · 2016. 7. 13. · ISO Focus Volume 6, No. 7, July-August 2009, ISSN 1729-8709 The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization • World Bank economist

ISO FocusVolume 6, No. 7, July-August 2009, ISSN 1729-8709

The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization

• World Bank economist : “ International Standards bolster economic growth.”

• Consumers call for interoperability

Renewing confidence

ISO Focus is published 11 times a year (single issue : July-August). It is available in English.

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Contents1 Comment Julien Pitton, ISO Treasurer, How to win

back business confidence and credibility in turbulent times

2 World Scene Highlights of events from around the world

3 ISO SceneHighlights of news and developments from ISO members

4 Guest ViewJohn Wilson, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank

8 Main Focus

ISO Focus July-August 2009

Talking “ risk ” •The benefits of personal financial planning•Rating services – Bringing stability to global financial markets •ISO tackles consumer credit scoring•Reducing security risks in financial services•Fraud – ISO joins the fight•Anti-counterfeiting solutions to gain back profits•Turning financial crises into opportunities – •Customer satisfaction standardsQuality and competitiveness as strategic allies•If only we could go back in time•Conformity important to maximizing benefits•Social responsibility in time of crisis – ISO 26000 and beyond•ISO highlights standards as generators of confidence during •global financial crisis

35 Developments and InitiativesDoes it fit, will it work and can standards help ? • Extensive debate improves consensus on future ISO 26000 •ISO President highlights role of standards for economic recovery •ISO begins work on standard for utility bills

43 New on the shelfNew edition of ISO/TS 16949 quality specification for automotive industry supply chain • ISO standard to save sailing enthusiasts from danger and drowning

45 Coming up

Renewing

confidence

© ISO Focus, www.iso.org/isofocus

Comment

In the midst of the worst financial crisis the world has seen since the Great Depression, we inevitably ask : “ What went wrong ? ” Concerns over accounta-bility, transparency, quality and risk man-agement resonate the strongest.

What the world needs is confi-dence – the bedrock of business.

Financial institutions have suf-fered the most from damaged reputations. Governments have come to the rescue, bringing into the spotlight the long-last-ing debate between too much and too lit-tle regulation. Should we enforce con-trol – even to degrees that some might consider excessive – to protect our over-all economic integrity, or should we be wary of limiting economic growth by such restrictions ?

Voluntary standards provide a middle ground, balancing the interests of regulation and economic growth. On one hand, financial institutions, busi-nesses and other organizations benefit from access to internationally agreed best practice, and from the possibility to participate in their development.

On the other hand, public author-ities can use ISO standards as flexible complements to regulation. Developed with broad stakeholder input from con-sumers, manufacturers, unions, regula-tors, academics and other groups, Inter-national Standards are multi-faceted, and can be understood and implement-ed by everyone.

ISO standards are therefore powerful tools for changing the behav-iour of economic actors. They provide a framework for financial institutions to become proactively accountable, as opposed to reacting in response to enforced regulation.

Furthermore, a global crisis requires a global response, and Inter-national Standards cross boundaries of geography and legislation. In fact, the financial crisis arose precisely because International Standards were not put in place and followed.

And this is reflected in the grow-ing demand for standards. At a time when most organizations have cut down busi-ness, ISO has actually increased its scope and introduced several new projects.

Not only do organizations who implement voluntary standards benefit from enhanced efficiency, reduced costs, technological know-how and improved market access, but internationally recog-nized standards also constitute a proactive commitment, appreciated by customers, to promoting quality, transparency, and accountability, and thus help organizations to generate and restore confidence.

ISO has developed a robust port-folio of standards geared towards the financial services industry through its technical committee ISO/TC 68, Finan-cial services. Its standards cover a wide spectrum of services with focus on the securities market and related financial instruments, core banking and payments (e.g. IBAN, ISIN).

Many have been adopted as nation-al standards and help to ensure the integ-rity and confidentiality of the financial infrastructure.

Another confidence-generat-ing standard is ISO 22222, which out-lines requirements for ethical behaviour, competences and experience of personal financial planners.

The ISO 9000 standards for qual-ity management are helping organiza-tions streamline operations to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Further-more, ISO and the International Elec-trotechnical Commission (IEC) have developed standards for controlling risks associated with information and sensitive data (the ISO/IEC 27000 fam-ily), business continuity standards, and

customer-focused complaint manage-ment standards.

ISO is also working on standards for anti-counterfeiting, fraud counter-measures and control, financial rating services, brand value and a new project on consumer credit rating. The soon-to-be published ISO 31000 will provide organi-zations with state-of-the-art guidance and principles for risk management.

All of these tools will help finan-cial institutions and other organizations around the world to restore credibility, integrity and efficiency – whether in developed or developing countries – as well as to prevent future crises.

An important lesson of the current crisis is that we cannot separate business from ethics. The future ISO 26000 on social responsibility will provide organi-zations with internationally agreed prin-ciples to guide their business operations with an ethical framework.

As these examples show, ISO’s vol-untary standards constitute practical tools for achieving many of the objectives of reg-ulators. With the experience of the global financial crisis, financial institutions and consumers might consider it opportune to weigh up the benefits of a proactive use of voluntary standards, instead of reactively responding to regulations that may incur costs. Regulators too may consider the use of voluntary standards as an alternative, or as an adjunct, to regulation, in paving the way to a common goal – a financial sec-tor we can once again trust.

How to win back business confidence and credibility in turbulent times

Julien Pitton

ISO Treasurer

“ An important lesson of the current crisis is

that we cannot separate business from ethics.”

ISO Focus July-August 2009 1


World SceneWorld Scenefavour of sustainable devel-opment.

The MoU was signed in June 2009 in Vienna, Austria by the ISO Secretary-General, Rob Steele, and the UNIDO Director-General, Kandeh K. Yumkella.

This new agreement strength-ens the long-standing strate-gic partnership between the two organizations in order to promote sustainable develop-ment and economic growth through standards develop-ment and implementation, capacity building and train-ing, joint publications and related research.

Under this MoU, ISO and UNIDO will undertake joint projects including seminars and workshops organization at the regional, sub-regional and national levels on topics such as:

Standardization practice •Environmental and energy •management

Food safety •Energy use and energy effi-•ciency

Social responsibility •Conformity assessment.•

ISO and UNIDO have a long and fruitful history of cooper-ation and the agreement will increase the effectiveness of their joint efforts and enhance coordination of their comple-mentary and mutually sup-portive activities by encourag-ing the widest use of stand-ards and assist developing countries and economies in transition benefit as they

become more involved in the global economy.

An illustration of the long-standing and suc-cessful partnership is the book Fast forward

as “ clients ” – contributing to developing local skills, as well as taking local needs into account. Watch the video at www.beyondgoodintentions.com

Regional cooperation in the AmericasISO Secretary-General Rob Steele attended the Pan Amer-ican Standards Commission (COPANT) meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Repub-lic, in March 2009. The event was hosted by Dirección Gen-eral de Normas y Sistemas de Calidad (DIGENOR), ISO correspondent member for the Dominican Republic.

DIGENOR General-Director Dr. Julio Santana De Leon noted that technical standards are a universal language that assures the viability of com-mercial and economic trans-actions, reproduction and comparability of quality parameters, measurements and the results of testing. Dr. Santana also referred to the significant initiatives DIGENOR had taken in recent years to promote the value standards can bring to the Santo Domingo economy.

ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele provided COPANT members with an update on the extensive activities of ISO over the last 12 months and the consultation on the ISO Strategic Plan 2011-2015. He urged all COPANT members, who are members of ISO, to consult with their stakehold-ers and provide ideas and comments to be included in the strategic planning exer-cise.

COPANT is the regional standards group in the Ameri-ca’s formed for the purpose of promoting the development of standardization and related activities in its member coun-tries in order to encourage economic integration and trade, exchange of goods and services, and to facilitate cooperation in standardization activities in the region.

OECD roundtable on corporate responsibilityEvery year the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) holds a roundtable on corpo-rate responsibility in conjunc-tion with the annual meeting of their national contact points – the government-assigned bodies responsible for the implementation of the OECD guidelines for multina-tional enterprises.

This year’s event took place in June 2009 in Paris, France. It focused on the responsibili-ties of multinational compa-nies towards consumers, and how consumers can encourage enterprises to live up to the recommendations of the OECD guidelines.

ISO Deputy Secretary-Gener-al Kevin McKinley participat-ed in the event and presented on the context of ISO’s inter-national standardization activ-ities, and the complementarity of the ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility currently being developed.

ISO and OECD have a Mem-orandum of Understanding on cooperation concerning the OECD guidelines and the ISO 26000 standard.

ISO and UNIDO’s reinforced partnershipISO and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to rein-force their partnership in

– National Standards Bodies in Developing Countries pub-lished in 2008 to help devel-oping countries and econo-mies in transition develop the optimal organization and use of a national standardization infrastructure as a lever for their economic development, trading capacity and a support for consumer, social and envi-ronmental protection.

The two organizations have collaborated to produce a new book on conformity assess-ment which will be published later this year.

Going beyond good intentions One of the first not-for-profit aid organizations to imple-ment a quality management system based on ISO 9001 has been recognized for its exceptional high standards in a video prepared by Beyond Good Intentions.

The latter’s aim is to uncover more innovative and effective approaches to international aid worldwide. The NGO is the Cambodia Trust, which provides artificial limbs and braces to people with disabili-ties, many of them landmine victims and polio sufferers in Cambodia.

The Cambodia Trust was cho-sen to be one of 10 organiza-tions featured in the Beyond Good Intentions video series. “ They took performance to the next level by obtaining certification to ISO 9001, ” says Tori Hogan from Beyond Good Intentions, and by doing so, “ they are voluntari-ly holding themselves to the same high standards of a for-profit organization.”

Mary Scott, Country Director of the Cambodia Trust, recog-nized the advantages, “ We had very positive impacts… [ISO 9001] has two major tenants, customer focus and continuous improvement.” As a result, the patients, and the local students trained by the NGO to help them, are treated

UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. Yumkella (left) and ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele (right), at the MoU signature in Vienna, Austria.

Photo: Nancy Falcon-Castro


ISO SceneFirst step for ISO standard on recall of unsafe productsThe first meeting of the ISO project committee that will develop an International Standard providing a code of good practice for establishing, implementing and managing efficient, flexible and respon-sive consumer product recall programmes including correc-tive actions, took place in May 2009, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting was hosted by DSM, ISO member for Malaysia.

ISO/PC 240, Product recall, decided on a publication target of 2012 for the new standard (ISO 10393), and resolved to harmonize efforts with other ISO committees developing standards for consumer product safety (ISO/PC 243), anti-coun-terfeiting (ISO/PC 246) and combating fraud (ISO/TC 247).

The committee extended a call for interested parties wishing to get involved (through the ISO member of their respec-tive country). Currently, about 12 countries participate in ISO/PC 240, and an additional four have observer status.

Delegates “ test ” standards on the ThamesOn the edge of the River Thames, delegates of ISO/TC 113, Hydrometry, put their standards to the test at a recently held meeting in Soli-hull, Birmingham, in May 2009.

an integrated environment for standards development at international, regional and national levels, was held in Madrid, Spain, in May 2009.

The event, opened by ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele and AENOR Director-General Ramón Naz, brought together 40 managers interested in the design and operation of IT services, from 20 national standards bodies (NSBs).

Lack of compatibility between the IT applications and services supporting par-ticipation in international standardization, and the sys-tems and processes used in national and regional stand-ards development, can seri-ously affect usability and effi-ciency for NSBs.

Presentations featured a number of the solutions used by NSBs to address this issue. The coordination effort of ITSIG, along with the applica-tions developed by ISO Central Secretariat, were highlighted.

The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss some of the most recent and prom-ising ISO/ITSIG develop-ments – in particular the ISO XML Authoring and metadata template and the ISO Concept Data Base.

The workshop was followed by ITSIG’s annual plenary,

where the ITSIG implementa-tion plans for 2009 (revised version) and 2010 were approved.

Viet Nam hosts trainers seminar on foodIn cooperation with the ISO member for Viet Nam, the Directorate for Standards Quality (STAMEQ), ISO organized a seminar on food safety management systems (ISO 22000) in Hanoi, in April 2009.

Some 90 professionals involved in the food sector attended the regional train the trainer’s seminar. The aim was to raise awareness of the benefits of implementing a food safety management sys-tem based on ISO 22000 in Viet Nam and in the east and southeast Asia region.

Following the seminar, 20 trainers from national stand-ards bodies in the region par-ticipated in a three-day semi-nar on presentation skills. The purpose was to build the nec-essary skills to undertake training activities on the standard in their own coun-tries.

The seminar was organized with the financial contribution of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Delegates from China, India, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA, including the World Metereo-logical Organization, piloted a remotely operated small boat containing an acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) used to measure the flow of the River Thames. The technical committee is currently devel-oping two standards on the use of the ADCP, which will improve its consistent use around the world.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to resolve a number of technical issues and to determine the future work programme of the vari-ous subcommittees present. Among the committee’s future directions is the inclusion of uncertainty analyses in the ongoing revision of its stand-ards. A recently established working group will help the subcommittees with this work.

The meeting, which was host-ed by the Environment Agen-cy of England and Wales at its Midlands Regional Head-quarters, also included a visit to the Physical Model Labora-tory at HR Wallingford.

Among its members, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea and South Africa were present at the first meeting.

ISO/PC 240’s next meeting will be held in November 2009.

Harmonizing IT solutions in standardizationThe need to harmonize IT tools at international and national levels was at the heart of the Information Technology Strate-gy Implementation Group’s (ITSIG) 2009 workshop.

Hosted by AENOR, the ISO member for Spain, the work-shop, IT solutions supporting

Opening of the ITSIG workshop in Spain.

Participants at the ISO 22000 train the trainer’s workshop in Viet Nam.



Guest View

John Wilson

John Wilson is a Lead Economist in the Interna-tional Trade group of the

Development Research Group at the World Bank (WB). He joined WB in 1999 and spent two years in its infrastructure Vice-Presidency. Mr. Wilson directs research and policy analysis on trade costs, busi-ness facilitation, and econom-ic development. He also pro-vides expertise in lending oper-ations and has worked on projects in the Latin America, Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and Eastern and Cen-tral European regions total-ling over USD 1.3 billion. He provided leadership and the concept for the World Bank establishment of the inter-agen-cy Standards and Trade Devel-opment Facility (STDF) and also developed the concept for the Bank’s new Trade Facilitation Facil-ity (TFF).

Prior to joining WB, he was Vice President for Technology Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council in Washington, D.C. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Economics, a Senior Staff Officer at the US National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and National Research Council, and Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University. He has degrees from Wooster College and Columbia University in New York.

ISO Focus : The financial cri-sis has become a global eco-nomic crisis. As a Lead Econo-mist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank, how do you see the role of ISO International Standards as a key to restoring growth and improving a country’s econom-ic performance ?

John Wilson : Global econom-ic recovery requires urgent and quick action in all areas to remove obstacles to growth. I do believe expanded use of International Standards can bolster economic growth through trade – and work we have done at the Bank dem-onstrates this. Now is the time, I think, to advance a long-term “ global standards initiative ” which is an idea I have been developing to bring new atten-tion to the benefits of standards

to a wider audience. Why is this needed now more than ever ?

Trade has played a critical role as an engine of global economic growth and poverty reduction over the past sev-eral decades. We must address and better understand the changing nature of trade in the post-crisis environment. Harmoni-zation of standards to international ones, along with reducing technical barriers should, I believe, be part of our collec-tive action toward recovery and sustain-able growth. There is an urgent need for leadership to showcase the importance of International Standards. It is also impor-tant to stress that systems which rely on private-sector-led standards development contribute to trade, growth, and expan-sion in global welfare.

“ There is an urgent need for leadership to

showcase the importance of International

Standards… A new global standards

initiative can help achieve that goal.”

4 ISO Focus July-August 2009


According to recently revised fig-ures from the World Bank, global eco-nomic growth is now expected to con-tract by 2.9 % in 2009. Moreover, devel-oping countries are expected to grow by just 1.2 % this year, after 8.1 % growth in 2007 and 5.9 % growth in 2008. When China and India are excluded from this estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the remaining developing coun-tries is projected to fall by 1.6 %.1) This news follows the World Trade Organiza-tion (WTO) estimates that global trade is projected to decline by 9 % in 2009, mark-ing the worst decline in trade flows since the Great Depression.2) In contrast, during the period 1974-2007, when global trade grew at an average rate of 5 % annually, real global GDP grew, on average, at a rate of 2.9 % per year. Trade’s role in glo-bal economic growth is critical and stand-ards are part of the fabric of international trade and the forces that drive it.

As programmes continue to evolve to restart trade, action on trade facilita-tion – including standards harmoniza-tion and removal of technical barriers – is crucial. I believe this is important in the context of moving out of the cri-sis more rapidly, as well as seizing the opportunity for reform. The “ global standards initiative ” I mentioned can help achieve these goals.

The crisis has raised trade costs through, among other channels, the decreased availability of trade financing and the threat of new trade-distorting pol-icies. As a result, behind-the-border barri-ers are more important and damaging. The opportunity cost of not enacting reform has, I believe, therefore increased signifi-cantly. This is particularly true of stand-ards and regulatory reform, given the real impact International Standards can have on long-term growth. Expanded use of Inter-national Standards matters a great deal, and we need to collectively work together, including with ISO, other standards devel-opers, industry groups, and public officials to ensure this fact is recognized.

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Figure 1 : Global trade flows from 1980 to 2010, annual percentage change (Global Economic Prospects, World Bank 2009).

1) “ Global Development Finance 2009 : Charting a Global Recovery, ” The World Bank.

2) “ Report to the TPRB from the Director-General on the Financial and Economic Crisis and Trade-related Developments, ” World Trade Organization.

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. It is not a bank in the common sense. It is made up of two unique development institutions owned by 186 member countries – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

Each institution plays a different but collaborative role to advance the vision of an inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together

they provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.

In fiscal year 2008, the World Bank provided approximately USD 1.4 billion in trade-related lending. Trade-related lending at the World Bank has increased from an annual average of USD 50 million over fiscal years 2002-2003, to an annual average of about USD 390 million over fiscal years 2004-2008.

About the World Bank



Our research and analysis at the Bank shows that the use of internationally -harmonized standards can significant-ly reduce trade costs and expand trade flows. This is achieved through lower production costs and increased export market diversity. According to recent World Bank research, for example, a 10 % increase in internationally har-monized European Union (EU) stand-ards leads to a 0.2 % increase in export variety for African textile and clothing exports. This effect is 50 % stronger for low-income countries.3)

ISO Focus : Developing countries are most vulnerable and likely to experi-ence acute negative consequences in the short- and long-term. How can the use of International Standards by devel-oping countries facilitate their partici-pation in the global trading system ?

John Wilson : This is another area where I think the “ global standards initiative ” can make a difference in raising aware-ness of the link between development, standards, and growth. According to the World Bank’s technical barriers to trade database, which we constructed several years ago, developing country firms face a much higher cost-to-sales ratio than devel-oped-country firms do when investing in technical requirement compliance.

Firms based in sub-Saharan Afri-ca, for example, face an average cost that represents 7.65 % of sales, with a range

and fabrics sectors was 20 % and 30 %, respectively, as of 2003.3)

In regard to developing countries and policy options, although they face con-straints in absorbing best-practice informa-tion on standards and mobilizing resources necessary to adopt process and production methods, international harmonization is nevertheless beneficial. I think that facili-tating information exchange and building technical capacity, along with domestic reform to move toward private-sector-led standards systems – with the involvement of public sector and others stakeholders – should remain a key priority of the devel-opment community.

With respect to developed coun-tries, efforts should be made to harmonize standards to international norms. Again, the concept of a “ global standards initia-tive ” I have started to explore could play a role in supporting these objectives.

ISO Focus : The WTO TBT Agreement encourages referring to International Standards as a means to reduce techni-cal barriers to trade that technical reg-ulations may generate. What specific examples coming out of the World Bank’s research programme on stand-ards help illustrate the benefits of har-monized International Standards to businesses seeking to recover from the economic impacts of the crisis ?

John Wilson : There are a number of specific examples of work at the Bank that demonstrate the benefits of harmo-nized standards. In addition to the exam-ple of African textile exports to the EU, we have also conducted research on the effect of reducing non-tariff barriers and increasing transparency to trade with-in regional groupings such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

A study I directed on APEC trade, for example, demonstrates that increas-ing transparency and reducing non-tariff barriers would increase intra-APEC trade by 9.3 %. Expanded use of harmonized International Standards can be viewed, I think, within this same goal of increased transparency – the type of transparency that matters to firms more than ever giv-en current economic conditions.5)

Guest View

extending to 124 %. According to Bank research, this variation is largely due to differences in firm size and productiv-ity differences – with the smallest and least productive firms feeling the larg-est impacts.3)

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Figure 2 : Average costs to comply with technical requirements (% of firm sales by region).3)

“ International Standards can bolster economic growth through trade.”

In support of this view, additional Bank research finds that firms for which testing procedures have affected their abil-ity to export, have an export share that is almost 9 percentage points lower than that of other firms. Similarly, firms that face difficulty in obtaining compliance infor-mation for one or more of their major des-tination markets export 18 % less of their total sales than other firms do.4)

Internationally harmonized stand-ards can mitigate these effects, as shown in our work on the impact of EU stand-ards on African textiles and clothing exports. We find that national standards aligned with ISO standards (as a proxy for international ones) expand African exports of these products – more than non-harmonized ones. Notably, however, the share of internationally harmonized EU standards in our data set decreased from 1995 to 2003. The percentage of EU harmonized standards in the clothing



Although the principle of transpar-ency encompasses more than regulatory simplicity and non-discrimination, such principles are critical to the foundations of a well functioning trading environment. APEC recognizes this fact, I think, giv-en that it’s most recent set of trade facil-itation action plans places emphasis on transparency vis-à-vis domestic regulatory reform. This not only includes standards harmonization, but the increased availa-bility and accessibility to standards-relat-ed information.6)

I think that the WTO’s technical barriers to trade agreement (TBT) rep-resents a solid framework for mitigating the negative trade effects of technical regulations – and increasing transpar-ency through wider use of International Standards. However, there is definitely room for improvement. Expanding the

WTO disciplines to further encourage use of private-sector-led standards sys-tems is one of many areas that can help in long-term recovery and growth.

ISO Focus : What is your view on ISO management systems – most notably ISO 9001:2008 for quality manage-ment and ISO 14001:2004 for envi-ronmental management ? How do they contribute to improving the economic competitiveness of a business ?

John Wilson : We need to do much more to examine and showcase the benefits of international quality and environmental standards, I believe. From a trade per-spective, adopting best practice manage-ment systems can help businesses con-duct international transactions more effi-ciently – and increased efficiency leads to lower costs and better positioning to enter global markets.

3) Witold Czubala, Ben Shepherd, and John S. Wilson (2007), “ Help or Hindrance ? The Impact of Harmonized Standards on African Exports.” Policy Research Working Paper 4400, World Bank.

4) Maskus, Keith E., Tsunehiro Otsuki, and John S. Wilson (2004), “ The Cost of Compliance with Product Standards for Firms in Developing Countries : An Econometric Study ”. World Bank Working Paper 3590.

5) Helbe, Matthias, Ben Shepherd, and John S. Wilson (2007) “ Transparency, Trade Costs, and Regional Integration in the Asia Pacific.” World Bank.

6) See www.apec.org

Given the increased awareness about management systems, in particu-lar, obtaining compliance with them can mitigate the complexities of international transactions between businesses and cli-ents that might be geographically distant or unfamiliar with one another. We need to understand, however, in more detail how management and environmental standards affect trade costs, consumer confidence, and economic competitiveness.

ISO Focus : How do you perceive ISO’s efforts to develop specific stand-ards such as anti-counterfeiting, fraud, financial ratings, quantifying value of brand and consumer credit rating, just to name a few, that may contribute to the recovery and establish solid eco-nomic foundations for preventing future crises ? Are there areas for which the World Bank would like to see more or different standards ?

John Wilson : Steps to expand acceptance of best practice International Standards that support more transparent international sys-tems – including in global financial mar-kets – can facilitate increased economic integration and growth. With regard to the current economic crisis, specifically, steps to further strengthen financial and credit systems around the globe would most cer-tainly have a positive effect in rebuilding confidence and enabling national econo-mies to benefit from a strengthened glo-bal financial system. Services sector stand-ardization, in particular, will likely receive much attention as we look to move beyond the current crisis. 40

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Internationally harmonized

Figure 3 : EU standards in textiles and clothing (World Bank/European Union Standards Database).



Main Focus

Renewing confidence



Renewing confidence

The commentators assume that not only should the financial sector have identified and assessed these risks, but they also should have known how to communicate them to their stakehold-ers – the investors who bought into those securities.

Equally, the commentators assume that these stakeholders would have under-stood what was being communicated to them. But for that to be the case, a shared

With a diverse mix of engineers, coming from a wide range of disciplines and representing a global organization, Alcoa found a need to establish a com-mon framework and reference points for risk. The Australian and New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 4360, Risk manage-ment, was used to develop that framework. And it has stood the test of time. Today, the framework has been widely deployed throughout the global organization.

1) Alcoa is a leading producer and manager of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina facilities, and is active in all major aspects of the industry.

“ ISO 31000 has the power to redefine risk

and risk management.”

External buy-inRarely do professionals respon-

sible for assessing and measuring risk make decisions on how it will be man-aged. Rather, it is often external parties and stakeholders – suppliers, the commu-nity, regulators, etc. – who have a great deal of influence on these decisions.

These stakeholders, therefore, need not only to be familiar with risk, its concepts and processes, but also to share a harmonized understanding of these principles ; otherwise they will be unable to make critical decisions on whether the risk management plans are acceptable to them.

Talking “ risk ”

by Peter Janus, Risk Manager, Alcoa Worldwide Alumina

The recent economic downturn has spurred many to comment on the role of risk in the current finan-

cial crisis. Many financial commentators believe that the financial sector did not adequately consider or wage risk, partic-ularly in mortgage lending in the USA.

common knowledge of risk management practice would have been needed, which currently does not exist.

Alcoa’s journey Alcoa 1) of Australia started its

formal enterprise risk management jour-ney some ten years ago. The initial goal was to ensure that future capital projects be delivered on time, within budget and with the benefits promised. But in order to achieve this, a new approach to risk management was required.

The risk management frame-work that Alcoa developed based on AS/NZS 4360 helped both its internal and external stakeholders to understand how the company manages risk, and to buy into that process.

Two-way streetCommunication is a two-way

street. Both the speaker and the listen-er have to be able to understand each other. Anyone who works in an inter-national capacity will know the frustra-tion of working in different jurisdictions with different standards, and of having to sell the process before being able to begin the work.

Those that work globally in Eng-lish-speaking countries will have heard



Main Focus

of the maxim “ we are divided by the use of a common language.” The only way to overcome this is to work from a standard that provides a common under-standing of key concepts, supported by a glossary of definitions. Without such a tool, it is difficult or even impossible to communicate risk effectively.

Having a recognized standard has been key to the success of risk manage-ment within Alcoa. And risk manage-ment is now a fundamental aspect of its decision-making processes. The chal-lenge going forward will be to move towards an International Standard, acces-sible to all relevant players and stake-holders in the global community. Such a standard will soon be available as ISO 31000, Risk management – Principles and guidelines.

A whole new levelThe fact that so many nations have

worked on the development of ISO 31000 gives it great credibility. The standard will provide a vehicle for the risk profession to harmonize concepts, irrespective of the country. It will overcome confusion and help stakeholders to understand the risks that are being communicated.

Alcoa, as an international cor-poration, will be an early adopter of ISO 31000. The standard fits well with its current framework and objective to integrate the world’s best practice in risk management to support and enhance busi-ness activities in all areas of its opera-tions. ISO 31000 is perceived as the next step in the development and improve-ment of the company’s risk manage-ment journey.

a shared understanding of risk and risk management practices, which in turn will improve risk communication.

In this way, ISO 31000 has the power to redefine risk and risk management.

Future community commentators on risk will know what questions to ask, how to critically investigate risk-taking, and maybe, even contribute to prevent-ing a future financial crisis.

About the author

Peter Janus is Risk Manager for Alcoa Worldwide Alu-mina, Australia. He is a fellow of the Australia and New Zea-land Institute of Insurance and Finance, a

member of the Risk Management Insti-tution of Australasia and a registered certified practising risk manager. Mr. Janus has spent over 30 years in the risk industry. During his career Mr. Janus has been an insurance underwriter, as well as an insurance broker. Recently, he has been developing enterprise risk man-agement tools to assist his organization meet its business objectives. Mr. Janus was the recipient of the 2004 the Risk Management Institution of Australia’s risk manager of the year award.

“ Alcoa, as an international corporation, will be an early

adopter of ISO 31000.”

Alcoa sees many advantages in having all countries where it operates (some 34 countries around the world) work from a common risk management framework, supported by their own individual country risk management communities.

Redefining riskA number of public commenta-

tors on the financial crisis have asked the question : is risk management a failure ? But perhaps we should be asking : is risk communication a failure ?

Wide adoption of ISO 31000 will, I hope, go a long way to ensuring we have



Renewing confidence

access to information than others, we call it information asymmetry. Exploit-ing information asymmetry can give one actor in the marketplace an unfair advan-tage over others by enabling insider trad-ing and market manipulation.

Lawmakers all over the world have enacted regulations to prevent or mini-mize information asymmetry. Examples include the European Union’s market abuse directive and the markets in finan-cial instruments directive (MiFID). And of course, information asymmetry is an important contributing factor to our cur-rent global economic crisis.

Times like these make it even more important to limit information asymmetry. A deep financial crisis leaves investors shaken, disappointed and even betrayed. What started as a relatively narrow loss

The benefits of personal financial planning

by Otto Lucius, Chair, Austrian national committee ON-K 244, Personal financial planning

I t’s just a fact of life : some people possess more knowledge and infor-mation than others. While this sim-

ple truth may be benign in many areas, it can lead to severe distortions in financial markets. When certain people have more knowledge, superior analysis or faster

of faith – the so-called subprime crisis – expanded quickly during 2008 into a full-blown financial meltdown that left Wall Street in shambles.

In 2009, the crisis reached the real economy. Huge fortunes were devastat-ed literally overnight. For a number of

reasons, investor psychology now rang-es from disappointment to complete lack of faith in financial intermediaries – and this mistrust is perhaps most acute in regard to financial advisors.

Myopic loss aversionInvestors generally tend to think

in very short time frames and show very low tolerance for short-term losses. This means that they may focus, for instance, on the risk of loss over a one-year time frame even when investing for retire-ment in 30 years. In behavioural finance, such behaviour is called “ myopic loss aversion.”

Investments are made not only to make money per se, but also to reach cer-tain goals. This was once fairly straight-forward. With or without insights from modern portfolio theory, investors could trust that asset management achieved returns at least equivalent to those of a market portfolio. But now this sim-ple truth is in doubt, leaving investors uncertain.

Most advisors – and commenta-tors – tend to forget that investors nor-mally hold more than the asset class of securities and/or derivatives. Clients are invested in assets such as commodities, real estate, art and antiquities. They are looking for solutions for certain needs, such as personal risk analysis to deal with potential illness, disability or death, or they are in search of estate solutions.

“ Times like these make it even

more important to limit information

asymmetry.”



How financial planning helps

The current financial crisis strains clients’ emotional and financial well-being as they plan for financial and life goals – which is of course, the central aim of financial planning. This requires a long-term strategic approach. Condi-tions of extreme market volatility and upheaval force clients to take a long-term view and to stay focused on a plan – assuming they have one.

This is where a financial plan-ning expert is an essential resource. A qualified financial planner is firm-ly committed to the value of the proc-ess, which means that he or she offers advice based on a comprehensive stra-tegic scenario featuring well-considered

About the author

Professor Otto Lucius is Chair of the Austrian national com-mittee ON-K 244, Personal financial Plan-ning, and actively partici-pated in the development of

the ISO 22222 standard. He is CEO of a research society in banking and finance, and teaches at the Department Banking and Finance, University of Graz, Austria, on financial planning and consulting. He is a founding mem-ber of Austrian Financial Planners.

assumptions focusing on the needs and goals of the client.

The core of this process is an integrated approach including invest-ment, tax, retirement, risk and estate planning. Only certified financial plan-ners (CFP®) can provide the necessary relationship of trust, in particular, those certified to ISO 22222:2005, Personal financial planning – Requirements for personal financial planners.

Financial planners certified against ISO 22222 will never look for quick return, but will instead strive to put the client’s interest first in every respect. Personal financial planning is built on trust and confidence between the plan-ner and the client.

The planner has an important fiduciary duty towards the client, which implies focusing on long-term consid-erations. Planning horizons tend to be at least 10 years, but may stretch to 25 years or more. An overarching principle is that all elements of financial planning – from financial management to asset management and retirement and estate planning – are treated holistically. This approach accentuates the true value of financial planning. And only planners with comprehensive education and expe-rience are able to provide the value and security that consumers require.



Renewing confidence

(see ISO Focus May 2008). Since then, research conducted on the financial crisis has shown the urgent need to standardize risk measures, such as corporate ratings, consumer scorings, and even indicators of risk performance management. According to the research, standards are needed not only for credit ratings, but also for con-sumer scorings, when both worlds meet in securitization transactions. 1)

Pitfalls of securitizationsThe financial crisis has revealed

major deficiencies in the financial indus-try and the global financial system. In

serves as collateral for which securities are issued. Each bundle of loans is rated by a credit rating agency using data that includes, most importantly, the FICO® (Fair Isaac Co.) score of the borrower. Among other factors taken into account are the loan amount, the ratio of the loan to the value of the house, the geograph-ic location of the property, whether it is used as primary residence, first and sec-ond lien, etc.

The pool of mortgages is designed to create different levels of risk, known as tranches. The rating agency’s job is to rate each tranche by running various models to test how many defaults or

payments can be expected under various assumptions, and how these will affect each tranche. The highest tranche, for example, is protected by subordinate ones, which absorb most of the risk.

The crisis involved both consumer and corporate rating agencies in a two-step process. Residential mortgages were issued to consumers who were typically rated by their FICO® scores. The bundled debts that were sold to investors were then rated mostly by the big three cor-porate rating agencies : Moody’s, Stand-ard and Poor’s, and Fitch.

Corporate versus consumer rating

Different rating situations are experienced by corporations on the one hand, and consumers on the other.

In corporate scoring, for exam-ple, data gathering is an interactive proc-ess, taking on the form of a discussion rather than mere information extraction from a data report. These discussions, following the aftermath of the finan-cial crisis, have been referred to as a consulting process, filled with poten-tial for error and bias. This view is fur-ther accentuated by the fact that corpo-rate raters depended on their clients for the interpretation of data.

Whereas in consumer scoring, data is several steps removed from the actual credit assessment. The client’s behaviour is measured by the lender. The lender hands over (a version of) this informa-tion to the credit bureau, which further shapes it to fit its standardized record-ing system. The data is further processed by the FICO®’s statistical algorithm. The

Rating services – Bringing stability to global financial markets

by Dr. Oliver Everling, Chair, ISO/PC 235, Rating services

Rapid growth in the number and types of financial rating instru-ments in recent years has led

to the creation of ISO project commit-tee ISO/PC 235, Rating services, which held its inaugural meeting in March 2007

the USA, for example, residential mort-gage-backed securities were sold to investors all over the world. This was made possible by a mostly automated process to underwrite mortgage loans, 2) and a judgmental system – albeit aided by formalized modelling – deployed to securitize them.

A residential mortgage-backed secu-rity (RMBS) is a type of security whose cash flows come from residential debt such as mortgages, home-equity loans and sub-prime mortgages. This is a type of mort-gage-backed security that focuses on resi-dential instead of commercial debt.

It consists of lenders bundling their residential mortgages into packages and putting them into a trust fund, which

1) Securitization is a structured finance process that involves pooling and repackaging of cash-flow-producing financial assets into securities, which are then sold to investors. The term “ securitization ” is derived from the fact that the form of financial instruments used to obtain funds from the investors are securities.

2) Underwriting is the process of approving or denying a loan based on an evaluation of the property and the applicant’s creditworthiness and ability to repay the loan using computers.



Main Focus

critical role of the Fico® score in the USA mortgage lending is due to the industry- wide application of the cut-off rate of “ 620 ” (on a scale of 300-850 points) for subprime borrowers.

By comparison, in Germany, for example, each bank (or at least each bank-ing group) has its own scoring system that includes the Schufa score of Germa-ny’s main credit bureau. This is only one input in a range of other variables, such as income or assets. The Schufa score does not play the same focal role as the Fico® score in the USA mortgage lending, since there is no one specific cut-off rate for certain groups of borrowers.

The composition and processing details of the Schufa score are not pub-licly known, which reduces the dangers of gaming the system 3). What’s more, the German public still has a fairly low awareness of credit scoring, and of the data needed to improve scores.

Exploiting the gapIn the USA example, transpar-

ency in the scoring system lent itself to abuse by making it easier for borrow-ers to manipulate the system. The lend-er (or rater) was obliged to disclose its assessment criteria, giving borrowers the opportunity to exploit the gap between indicator and concept and, in so doing, increase their score without improving creditworthiness.

About the author

Dr. Oliver Everling, Chair of ISO/PC 235, is CEO of Rat-ing Evidence GmbH, Princi-pal of Everling Advisory Serv-ices, and a co-editor of the magazine Kredit

& Rating Praxis. He has served as a board member of the Bundesverband der Ratinganalysten und Ratingadvisors e.V. since March 2004, as well as of Rating-Analysten-Qualifizierung at the Univer-sity of Augsburg since February 2000, and is a member of the Rating Commis-sion at the Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management e.V. Dr. Everling is visiting lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences of Frankfurt am Main, and Guest Professor at the, Capital University of Economics and Business, in Beijing, China.

“ ISO/PC 235 will contribute to restoring market confidence and bringing real and value-adding benefits to the

financial industry.”

defaults (payments) and conflicts of inter-est. The consumer credit score, once it became the main and often only meas-ure of creditworthiness, could not effec-tively predict consumer losses.

Standards for a fair playing field

Professional rating services need a minimum set of requirements in order for the market to distinguish their work from subjective analysis, and opinion-based methodology.

The objectives of the ISO project committee ISO/PC 235 on rating serv-ices are to eliminate methods and pro-cesses that are driven by special interests, whether untrustworthy or deliberately false, or that can be used to manipulate capital markets as a result of failures in accreditation or auditing systems.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, all participants in the credit infor-mation and analysis chain will be required to follow a minimum set of requirements. Rating agencies and credit bureaus will need to simplify and provide broader market access to rating criteria, under-lying models and analytical tools, to bet-ter organize information about their cri-teria, models and policies, and to offer access to additional analytical tools. In addition, criteria, policy and disclosure of information will need to be consol-idated and formatted for easier access, and referenced in their products. Final-ly, the risk of gaming the system will need to be carefully examined in order to avoid loopholes that may be exploit-ed by unscrupulous users.

ISO/PC 235 will play an impor-tant part in establishing a fair and level playing field. It will contribute to restor-ing market confidence and bringing real and value-adding benefits to the finan-cial industry.

3) Gaming the system means, simply, using the rules, policies and procedures of a system against itself for purposes outside what these rules were intended for.

In 2000, when the state of Cali-fornia forced lenders to disclose scores (regardless of the decision on the loan), anyone could purchase a new, improved score. The Internet only helped fuel the numbers by giving advice on how con-sumers could increase their average credit scores.

Therefore, both consumer and cor-porate credit ratings played a part in the USA subprime mortgage crisis. Corpo-rate rating agencies which assessed the securitized mortgage credit pools were hampered by data problems created by fake scores, as well as from correlated



Renewing confidence

ing abilities and robustness of credit scoring models). Elements of these reg-ulations, imposed by data and consum-er rights protection agencies, as well as voluntary commitments by credit score users, should be taken into account in the proposed ISO standard.

Overall, international standard-ization in this area is expected to fos-ter transparency, clarity, comparabili-ty and openness of methodologies, as well as impartiality and other ethics-based principles.

There is a growing need to define and specify the quality of credit scoring methods and processes, including the credit score itself with its data founda-tion and associated scales.

Quick, inexpensive and objective?

Lenders use consumer credit scoring to determine who qualifies for a loan, at what interest rate, and with what credit limits. Consumer credit scor-ing is used by banks, credit card com-panies, mail order businesses, insur-ance companies, collection agencies, telecommunication providers, utilities,

ISO tackles consumer credit scoring

by Dr. Holger Muehlbauer, Managing Director, TeleTrusT

A timely development in the con-text of the current financial cri-sis is the proposal to develop an

ISO Standard on consumer credit scor-ing. The proposal was submitted by Austrian Standards, the ISO member for Austria.

1) Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Basel II sets rigorous risk and capital management requirements to ensure that a bank holds capital reserves appropriate to the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices.

Consumer credit scoring has been the subject of much debate. But the Basel II 1) international regulations on banks’ capital requirements made it an obligatory part of the process for obtaining retail credit.

Consumer rights advocates and market participants have criticized existing consumer credit scoring practices because of their central role in the USA subprime crisis (see article on page 13).

employers and government agencies. It has become widespread and popular with lenders, as it allows a quantifiable credit assessment quickly, inexpensive-ly and objectively.

Although there will be some debate on how to standardize credit scoring, bank regulators included in the Basel II framework a set of regulations for retail credit scoring (focusing on the forecast-

“ Lenders use consumer credit scoring

to determine who qualifies for a loan,

at what interest rate, and with what credit limits.”



Main Focus

sis, portfolio definitions, score values and classes, transparency of the methodology, documentation, and staff training.

The proposed standard would then help prevent the emergence of methods and processes driven by interests that are untrustworthy or false, or that are able to manipulate the retail credit markets as a result of failures in accreditation or audit-ing systems. The market requires such a minimum level of qualifying criteria for professional credit scoring services, in order to distinguish these from mere expressions of opinion. Declarations of voluntary commitment alone are prob-ably insufficient to the market and do not foster competition for professional credit scoring services.

The proposed standard would look only at consumer credit scoring, and will not address rating – which refers to the assessment of creditworthiness in a broader sense, not restricted to sta-tistical formulas, and subject to human judgement.

The work is expected to start end of 2009, pending formal approval.

ment methods, taking into consideration rapidly changing credit markets, process challenges and technologies.

Similarly, the proposed standard does not intend to elevate a single mod-el as the “one and only”, but be open to the innovative solutions that may be identified through research and devel-opment of academics and practitioners in the future.

On par with progressThe aim is not to lay down uni-

form, constant and immutable credit scor-ing criteria, statistical methods and pro-cesses. Rather, there should, and will be, some variety in processes, systems, crite-ria and weightings, models and measure-

About the author

Dr. Holger Muehlbauer has specialized in service standardization since 1996 and was involved in a number of ISO and CEN projects related to services. In

the past, he held the role of Secretary of ISO/TC 222, Personal financial planning, ISO/PC 230 Psychological assessment, ISO/PC 231, Brand valuation, ISO/TC 232, Learning services for non-formal education and training, ISO/PC235, Rating services. Dr. Muehlbauer’s professional background is in law. He is currently the Managing Director of TeleTrusT Germany, an IT security association comprising members from industry, authorities and research institutions.

“International standardization is expected to

foster transparency, clarity, comparability

and openness of methodologies.”

The objective is to ensure that the quality of each consumer credit scoring method can be assessed in a standardized way by measuring the forecast power, precision, and robustness of the model. A standardization of minimum require-ments would be developed with regard to objectives, scoring objects, predict-ed credit events, forecast horizons, data records underlying the statistical analy-



Renewing confidence

Reducing security risks in financial services

by Mark A. Lundin, Chair, ISO/TC 68/SC 2, Financial services security

F inancial institutions and other organi-zations are challenged to comprehend and comply with an ever increasing

array of industry standards, regulations, and customer/business partner require-ments. Continued growth of online and mobile commerce, and the emergence of new cloud-based business models highlight the importance and challenges of protect-ing sensitive data. Leading organizations across industries are adopting a unified compliance to more effectively and effi-ciently address these requirements, while adding value to the organization.

Unified Compliance Approach

Among the benefits of a unified compliance approach are:

Reduced risks through structured risk •management

Improved monitoring of compliance•Improved security•

Rationalized compliance requirements •and control assessment processes

Reduced burden of compliance mon-•itoring and testing.

Full implementation of a uni-fied compliance approach helps organ-izations progress from the typical cur-rent state to the desired future state, as shown below.

A portfolio of best practice standards

When establishing the overall compliance program, there are a vari-ety of generally applicable ISO/IEC standards that can be a valuable source of information. For example :

ISO/IEC 27001:2005, • Information technology – Security techniques – Information security management systems – Requirements, has gained considerable popularity and has been adopted on a worldwide basis, becom-ing the de facto standard for infor-mation security management sys-tems (ISMS). Other standards in the ISO/IEC 27000 series provide addi-

tional guidance for implementing and operating an ISMS.

ISO/IEC 20000:2005, which is issued •in two parts under the general title, Information technology – Service management, covers a broader set of processes for delivering IT serv-ices to meet customer and business requirements.

Joint technical committee ISO/IEC •JTC 1, Information technology, sub-committee, SC 27, IT security tech-niques, and its working groups also continue to develop supporting techni-cal standards addressing a diverse set of technical security domains.

From a financial services perspec-tive, ISO/TC 68 addresses security threats and risks facing the global financial serv-ices industry through its working groups that focus on information security. A major portion of these efforts focuses on cryp-tographic techniques for providing con-fidentiality, integrity and authentication capabilities. Effective use of cryptograph-ic techniques remains a critical risk man-agement and security tool for financial services and other organizations process-ing electronic financial transactions. This is particularly important in view of the growth of online and mobile commerce, and as new cloud-based business models emerge. ISO/TC 68 security standards can assist financial services organizations in addressing these requirements.

The technical committee is on the leading edge in defining guidance for the use of cryptography, working closely with Joint technical committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, subcommittee, SC 27, IT security techniques. For exam-ple, Financial services – Recommenda-tions on cryptographic algorithms and their use – Standing Document (2008), provides up-to-date recommendations for cryptographic algorithms and strategic guidance on key lengths and associated parameters and usage dates. Recognizing the evolving nature of the field and rate at which computer processing power is increasing, this guidance will be updat-ed regularly to ensure it is current. This document provides specific guidance on topics including: recommended usage periods for algorithms of varying bit-



Work stream Key activities

Governance Provide executive oversight and visibility through ongoing status •reporting based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and compli-ance activities

Risk management Perform an annual risk assessment •Identify controls in a unified controls matrix to mitigate risks and •address business and compliance requirements

Perform risk assessments of new projects and systems•Periodically update the unified controls matrix to address changes •and new risks

Compliance Develop control testing/monitoring plans •Perform control testing/monitoring procedures in a coordinat-•ed manner to reduce or eliminate duplication of efforts across the organization’s compliance functions

Monitor the status of risk mitigation activities for identified con-•trol gaps

Provide support for external audit and certification activities to •enable efficiencies

Continuous improvement

Identify and implement solutions to address aggregated control •gaps

Automate controls and monitoring activities where possible to drive •efficiency

strength ; measuring bits of security ; block ciphers ; stream ciphers ; hash functions ; message authentication codes ; asymmet-ric algorithms ; entity authentication and key management mechanisms.

Examples of key ISO/TC 68 secu-rity standards include :

ISO 9564 series for secure person-•al identification number (PIN) man-agement

ISO 11568 series for key management •for retail banking

ISO 13491 for secure cryptographic •devices used in retail banking

ISO 15782 series and ISO 21188 for •certificate management and public key infrastructure operation in a financial services context.

Securing transactions and data

Effective cryptographic key man-agement practices are a fundamental com-ponent of securing transactions and relat-ed data in electronic transaction process-

ing. In an increasingly virtual world, standardized key management practic-es can help an organization to achieve business, security and risk management objectives. ISO/TC 68 and other JTC1/SC 27 can also serve as valuable inputs when defining an enterprise key manage-ment strategy, requirements, policies, and processes/procedures. In many environ-ments, this is a critical component of the unified compliance framework.

ConclusionFinancial services and other

organizations can embrace a unified compliance approach and ISO standards to efficiently reduce risk, improve secu-rity, and increase compliance. General-ly applicable standards such as the ISO/IEC 27000 series can help an organiza-tion to establish a programmatic, proac-tive approach to risk and compliance. Supporting ISO/TC 68 technical secu-rity standards can help organizations to address important requirements for protection of sensitive data in a more strategic, policy-driven manner. Uni-fied compliance and ISO standards pro-vide a practical way for organizations to cope with a business environment that is becoming increasingly virtual and increasingly regulated.

About the author

Mark A. Lund-in is a Partner with KPMG LLP’s Advisory practice based in San Francis-co and Chair of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 68, Finan-cial services,

subcommittee SC 2, Financial services security. Mr. Lundin has over 18 years of business experience, including 11 years helping clients to assess, design and implement controls – leveraging industry standards – to meet customer, regulatory, and compliance require-ments. His clients include leading global service providers, software companies, financial institutions and other organiza-tions with complex technology environ-ments.

Compliance programme characteristics

Typical current state Implementation of unified compliance

Desired future state

Silos of compliance•Ad hoc monitoring•Reactive to change •(threats, regulations, solutions)

Manually intensive•Detective focused•Incident driven •investment

Unstructured risk •management

Inexperienced controls •resources

Unified compliance•Continuous monitoring•Proactively manage •change (threats, regula-tions, solutions)

Automated•Preventative focused•Risk-driven investment•KPI-driven risk •management

Controls specialist •resources

A unified compliance approach includes the following major components



Renewing confidence

by Michael O’Neil, Secretary, ISO/TC 247, Fraud countermeasures and control

W ith the global economic crisis, we are continuously saturated with large numbers that reflect

the billions of dollars and the millions of jobs being lost. But what often goes unnoticed is the tremendous economic cost and social impact caused by global fraud every year.

The US Department of Home-land Security, Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s “ Operation Bogus ”, recent-ly reported a disturbing increase in docu-ment and financial fraud worldwide. The International Anti-counterfeiting Coali-tion estimates that “ counterfeiting is a USD 600 billion a year problem,” and in the USA alone, 750 000 jobs have been lost to counterfeiting.

According to the World Health Organization, the counterfeiting of drugs accounts for more than USD 32 billion annually and enables the spread of drug resistant pandemics and treatment fail-ure. In the United Kingdom, the Home Office reported yearly identity theft loss-es of over one billion USD. These wor-rying trends and numbers deserve, even within the scope of the economic crisis, global attention and action.

A new form of weaponWhile law enforcement and leg-

islation play key roles in bringing crim-inals to justice, they cannot do it alone. Their resources are overcome by the sheer volume of fraudulent activity that is often viewed by the public as a vic-timless crime. They need the support of business and interested consumer groups to provide them with the tools needed to counter this growing problem.

What it all means

Fraud

Noun1. Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.2. A person intending or thing intended to deceive.

Countermeasure

NounAn action taken to counteract a danger or threat.

Control

Noun1. The power to influence people’s behaviour or the course of events.2. The restriction of an activity or phenomenon.

Definitions provided by the Oxford English Dictionary.

While we recognize the role of law enforcement and national legislation in fighting fraud, International Standards can also be a part of the solution. The development of standards as a means for the curtailment of fraud losses is a recent development, but one that many national standards bodies now recognize as holding potential for the future. The use of stand-ards by business, government, consumer groups and law enforcement provides a cost effective, non-legislative means to develop solutions to this complex problem.

Earlier this year, ISO approved the creation of technical committee ISO/TC 247, Fraud countermeasures and con-trols, and project committee ISO/PC 246, Anti-counterfeiting tools (see article on page 20). The proposals were made by the American National Standards Insti-tute (ANSI), ISO member for the USA, and by the Association française de nor-malization (AFNOR), ISO member for France, respectively.

1) www.naspo.info

These two ISO initiatives are the beginning of the development of a new class of standards. The resulting ISO standards will be focused on curtailing the financial loss and social consequenc-es that result from fraud within the are-as of brand protection, counterfeiting, identity theft and identity management.

ISO/TC 247 will bring together experts from around the world and from differ-ent stakeholder groups to focus on fraud issues and how standards can be devel-oped as holistic solutions.

Because the nature of fraud has national, regional and cultural compo-nents, the technical committee will be sensitive to these interests.

The secretariat of ISO/TC 247 has been delegated by ANSI to the North Amer-ican Security Products Organization 1). To strengthen and coordinate efforts, a joint meeting of ISO/PC 246 and ISO/TC 247 has been scheduled for September 2009 in Santa Clara, California. This will be the second meeting of ISO/PC 246 and the first for ISO/TC 247. In preparation for these meetings, national mirror commit-tees are currently being formed by their respective standards bodies.

Fraud – ISO joins the fight

About the author

Michael O’Neil is Secretary of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 247, Fraud countermeasures and control. He is the Executive Director, former Chair and co-founder of the

North American Security Products Organi-zation (NASPO). Mr. O’Neil has worked in the security and financial field for the last 17 years. During this period, he has been a contributing member of the Docu-ment Security Alliance, International Association of Financial Crimes Investiga-tors, the Retail Protection Association, and has served as a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Iden-tity Theft Prevention and Identity Manage-ment Standards Panel Steering Committee.



by Jean-Michel Loubry, Chair, ISO/PC 246, Anti-counterfeiting tools

Counterfeiting is not something that just happens to luxury goods. Believed to account for up to 10 %

of global commercial transactions, all mar-kets are at risk of fakes and forgeries.

Because they are not regulated, many counterfeited products present dan-gers to the health and safety of individu-als. Not only do they distort competition and violate intellectual property rights of legitimate producers, undermining fair trade and distorting tax revenues, but they also generate risk for consum-ers, users and the supply chain.

Counterfeiting can significant-ly reduce the profitability of legiti-mate businesses. The risks are impor-tant : low turn-over, stolen know-how, lost jobs and wrongful lawsuits follow-ing accidents caused by counterfeited products (that are almost impossible to prove as such).

These costs can compromise the long-term survival of a business. It is therefore crucial to protect products and material goods, especially in turbulent economic times, when businesses must maximize their profitability.

Choosing an anti-counterfeiting security solution today is a complicat-ed feat. Although many options exist, very little information is available and a lack of harmonized requirements dis-torts comparison.

About the author

Jean-Michel Loubry is Chair of ISO project committee ISO/PC 246, Anti-counterfeiting tools, and of the equivalent French mirror committee. An electronics

engineer and graduate in strategic man-agement, Mr. Loubry has made his career in major hi-tech companies in the telecommunication sector, starting in Research and Development, then as Pre-sales Manager for Export and as Product Marketing Manager.

He jointed the French Traceability Cen-tre in 2006 where he is managing the General Interest Missions Department, in charge of information, training and standardization.

“ All markets are at risk of fakes and forgeries.”

The ISO project committee, ISO/PC 246, Anti-counterfeiting tools, is developing a standard that will define the performance criteria for authentica-tion tools used in anti-counterfeiting of material goods. The future standard, to be known as ISO 12931, will be objec-tive-oriented and applicable to all anti-counterfeiting security solutions.

Choosing only the bestThe first step in the fight against

counterfeiting is to define a strategy :

Select a product•Establish where and how it is pro-•duced

Look at how it is distributed •Decide who and how it can be con-•trolled

Determine the level of risk. •

Anti-counterfeiting solutions to gain back profits

security vendors. In particular, small businesses lacking the resources to con-duct similar investigations will benefit from ISO 12931. Suppliers too will ben-efit from standardized criteria to better present the performance of the security solutions they offer.

The standard will also facilitate the implementation and usage of anti-counterfeiting tools. By harmonizing global efforts, ISO 12931 will ensure that the fight against counterfeiting is even more effective.

The standard will be useful for brand owners, suppliers and authorities. All of these groups have been involved in the project since the very beginning, when the Association française de nor-malization (AFNOR), ISO member for France, prepared the original proposal for this International Standard in 2008.

ISO/PC 246 enjoys a diverse and international collaboration and a strong willingness to succeed – a good sign for both users and producers of mate-rial goods who are victims of fakes and forgeries.

The security solution chosen for protection against counterfeiting will depend on the answers to these ques-tions. The standard will help business-es select the most relevant anti-coun-terfeiting solution to meet the compa-ny’s strategy. It will also make it easier to compare and verify the required per-formance level with that promised by



Renewing confidence

by Bill Dee, Kernaghan Webb, and Stanislav Karapetrovic, former convenors or liaison experts in the working groups developing ISO 10001, ISO 10002 or ISO 10003

In times of financial crises, businesses face a triple challenge : how to show sceptical customers that they can be

trusted, how to do more with less, and how to stand out from the competition.

Three ISO quality management standards provide a road map for enhanced and cost-effective customer satisfaction, both through good times and bad. This is accomplished through :

Codes of conduct that set out up-front •commitments and assurances concern-ing a particular feature of a product, service or activity (ISO 10001)

Internal complaints handling •(ISO 10002)

External dispute resolution •(ISO 10003).

These three ISO standards, which are part of the ISO 9000 series, are con-ceptually linked to form key elements of a comprehensive approach to com-

“ Studies suggest that effective complaint-

handling practices can significantly improve

brand loyalty.”

plaints management. They can be used to support the related components of an ISO 9001-based quality management system, or can be applied independent-ly of ISO 9001 and each other. In addi-tion, they can assist companies in meet-ing and exceeding consumer protection laws. Overall, ISO’s customer satisfac-tion standards are an attempt to distil international best practice, and provide benchmarks to help organizations and their customers do business in a compet-itive and borderless marketplace.

customer satisfaction codes of conduct can be an innovative way of maintaining, or increasing, market share. There are now many examples of such codes in a number of different industry sectors.

Codes of conductSeveral North American airlines

have recently announced customer com-mitments pertaining to a variety of issues that meet, or exceed, legal requirements. These include compensation in case of flight delays, overbooking or flight can-cellations, charges for extra luggage, and pet-friendly policies. If these com-mitments are framed in clear and pre-cise language, and backed by employee training, adequate resources, an appro-priate communication plan, and policies that ensure commitments are consistently met (which are all factors addressed in ISO 10001), codes of this sort are like-ly to attract customers.

Customer satisfaction codes of conduct have also been successfully used to attract and maintain market share in the fast food home delivery sector. For example, starting in the 1990s, certain pizza take out restaurant chains began incorporating a time guarantee on food

Turning financial crises into opportunities – Customer satisfaction standards

When companies make commit-ments about their products, services and activities in codes of conduct to their prospective and actual customers, they not only differentiate themselves from their competitors, but they also decrease the likelihood of complaints arising lat-er. Particularly in economic downturns,



Kernaghan Webb is an Associate Pro-fessor in the Department of Law and Busi-ness at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson Univer-sity, Toronto,

Canada. Dr. Webb was the Convenor of ISO/TC 176/SC 3/WG 12, External cus-tomer dispute resolution system, and ISO/TC 176/SC 3/WG 13, Market-based codes of conduct, the working groups that developed ISO 10001 and ISO 10003.

Stanislav Karapetrovic is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He is a Customer

Satisfaction Liaison Expert of ISO/TC 176/SC 3 and the Convenor of the ISO/TC 176 Task Group on Portfolio Management.

lines for codes of conduct for organi-zations, gives step-by-step guidance to companies for developing and imple-menting a set of commitments to cus-tomers about their products, services and activities. Companies who follow the guidance are in a good position to have the kind of accurate and effective customer satisfaction codes of conduct that maintain or enhance market share and reduce complaints.

In-house complaints handling

But enhancing customer con-fidence does not end there. Setting up a complaints-handling system within

the company can also build and main-tain trust. Studies suggest that effective complaints-handling practices can sig-nificantly improve brand loyalty.

If a company does not have a system to deal with legitimate custom-er complaints and get feedback on how its products and services are performing in the marketplace, it may lose its cus-tomer base and quickly find itself at a disadvantage. This is true in a competi-tive environment, and even more so in a financial crisis or a recession.

ISO 10002:2004, Quality man-agement – Customer satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations, gives guidance on how to set up and implement a complaints-

About the authors

Bill Dee is the Director of Compliance and Complaints Advisory Serv-ices in Australia. He consults in the area of com-pliance manage-ment, dispute management

and consumer affairs. Mr. Dee was the Convenor of ISO/TC 176/SC 3/WG 10, Complaints handling, the working group that developed ISO 10002.

delivery, specifying that late deliveries would be free of charge. This practice is a succinct and powerful form of custom-er satisfaction code of conduct, that gave the innovating restaurants a “ leg up ” on their competition and revolutionized the fast food industry in the process.

If properly developed and imple-mented, codes of conduct reduce custom-er uncertainty about a product, service or activity, thereby enhancing trust in the company. However, if a company’s commitments are not clear, or cannot be consistently met, they can backfire with negative consequences, both for the com-pany and its customers.

ISO 10001:2007, Quality manage-ment – Customer satisfaction – Guide-



Renewing confidence

“ Particularly in economic downturns, customer satisfaction

codes of conduct can be an innovative way of maintaining

or increasing market share.”

handling process within a company to address issues of concern to custom-ers. Complaints that are appropriate-ly and expeditiously addressed by an organization are likely to maintain or enhance customer satisfaction. In addi-tion, the “ market intelligence ” infor-mation included in the complaint may assist the organization in improving the quality of its products, services and activities.

Handling complaints externally

Even when ISO 10002 is fol-lowed, there are some cases in which complaints cannot be resolved inter-nally. In such cases, guidance regard-ing the services of external parties, who can assist in resolving disputes, may be needed. In theory, courts and govern-mental consumer protection agencies may be available to address such cas-es. However, there may be situations where recourse to courts and other for-mal public bodies is impractical, undu-ly costly, or both.

Many companies participate in external redress systems, whereby cus-tomers have the option of having their problems reviewed and addressed by third parties, particularly in situations where internal complaints handling has not been adequate.

ISO 10003:2007, Quality manage-ment – Customer satisfaction – Guide-lines for dispute resolution external to organizations, provides guidance on three types of processes for external dispute resolution. These are :

Facilitative processes, such as when •an external party brings custom-er and organization representatives together in an attempt to encourage the parties to resolve the problem themselves

Advisory processes, where, for •instance, an external party provides recommendations as to how problems can be resolved

Determinative processes, in which, •for example, an external party, with the prior agreement of the parties, makes a decision to resolve the dispute.

Fair, consistent and credible guid-ance for resolving customer conflict is valuable to companies, and can enhance customer trust.

The added value of ISO standards

ISO 10001, ISO 10002 and ISO 10003 1) emphasize the value of com-panies providing codes of conduct, as well as complaints handling and dis-pute resolution processes, which are vis-ible and accessible, customer-focused, and grounded in a process of continu-al improvement. In addition, they assist companies in developing and applying codes and processes that are responsive to the concerns of their customers, both in good times and bad.

Therefore, any company seeking to maintain or enhance the levels of sat-isfaction and trust of its customers – dur-ing the financial crisis and in the recov-ery – would be well advised to turn to these ISO standards.

1) The three standards were developed by working groups within the ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, subcomittee SC 3, Supporting technologies (see About the authors).



Main Focus

Food•Mango, strawberry and uchuva •growing.

These sectors have experience in exports and are already meeting demand for their products on international markets. To find a sustainable balance between demand and supply, it is essential to help the com-panies fulfil technical standards.

Other traditional Colombian eco-nomic sectors with a high share of sales in exports, such as leather and shoes, actively work with ISO standards for their products. For this reason, stand-ards ISO 20344:2004, Personal protec-tive equipment – Test methods for foot-wear, ISO 20345:2004, Safety footwear and ISO 20347:2004, Occupational foot-wear, have been adopted as Colombian standards. These standards are also now harmonized in the Andean region.

ISO standards on leather tests have also been adopted as national Colombi-an standards, and provide the basis for sales of Colombian bovine leather to foreign markets.

World of standardsFinally, it is important to note that

working with International Standards at a national level and for exports promotion has led to increased Colombian partici-pation in the preparation of new stand-ards. A number of national committees are beginning activities to establish sev-eral ISO mirror committees.

one-fifth of their export growth is due to their adoption of ISO 9001. Notably, the companies reported that not only did their export volumes increase, but also the number of countries to which they export. The boost was mainly felt in exports to the USA, Central America and the Andean region. The results proved that ISO 9001 certification is a passport to competitive-ness in international markets.

While certification is a voluntary process, many companies and consumers expect that their suppliers, products and services have management system certifi-cates. In the survey, 43 % of respondents said that more than one-fifth of their customers require them to hold certification.

Helping SMEs become globally competitive

On the other hand, it is important to note that at least 90 % of Colombian companies are micro, small and medi-um enterprises (SMEs). There are many aspects to be improved before these com-panies effectively reach global compet-itiveness. To contribute to this goal, a number of projects have been set up to promote their ability to export.

Quality and competitiveness as strategic allies

by Germán Nava, Standardization Director, ICONTEC

G lobalization affects trade, technol-ogy and communications. More and more companies are joining

the already massive group wishing to export products or services.

Free trade agreements have pro-vided excellent opportunities to launch products, open markets and reach mil-lions of potential consumers. Colombian companies therefore need to be aware of the importance of quality, price, opportu-nities and capacity, but also be prepared to face competitive challenges from com-panies in other countries.

The adoption of standards to improve quality and competitiveness has become an essential strategic objective among far-sighted organizations.

Results that showTo evaluate the benefits of ISO

9001:2008, Quality management sys-tems – Requirements, the Colombian Institute of Standardization and Certi-fication (ICONTEC), ISO member for the country, conducted a survey examin-ing the internal and external advantages achieved by Colombian companies cer-tified to the standard.

The survey involved careful measurement of factors such as proc-ess improvement, effects on productiv-ity, impact on sales and financial output, competitive factors and, most important-ly, influence on exports.

The survey was based on a repre-sentative sample comprised of 570 cer-tified companies (38 % of which are in exports) from various economic sectors in Colombia. Participants were drawn from the cities of Barranquilla, Bogota, Bucaramanga, Cali and Medellin.

Results showed that 75 % of export companies believe that approximately

About the author

Germán Nava is Standardization Director at ICONTEC. He is a member of the Colombian Dele-gation for Com-mercial Negotia-tions with the USA and the European Union.

Mr. Nava is a civil engineer from the National University of Colombia, as well as a specialist in business administration and quality management from Rosario Univer-sity and Santo Tomás University.

One such project is Norexport, Standards for Exports, led by ICONTEC in Colombia with significant participation from INDECOPI, ISO member for Peru, and IBNORCA, ISO member for Boliv-ia. Norexport exists to drive exports in the Andean region by aiming for world-class performance through fulfilment of product, process and system-technical standards.

The focal economic sectors iden-tified by the project include :

Graphical arts•Dairy products•Textiles and clothing•Heliciculture (snail farming)•

“ The survey proved that ISO 9001 certification

is a passport to competitiveness in

international markets.”



Renewing confidence

But the director of operations, who is perhaps the manager with the most “ real life ” problems, strides purposefully around the table, pauses to gaze at each board member, and cuts short the debate : “ At this point, we have nothing to lose. Let’s hear what they have to say.”

No laptops ?The two consultants, a short stocky

man and a tall slender woman, enter the room. They are indeed different. No black suits, no expensive black pilot suitcases and… no laptops ?

After shaking hands, the first speaks and goes straight to the point :

“ Just imagine what you could do with a time machine, able to take you and your team back in time.”

The board members stare at each other dreamily.

“ And, if we tell you that we have such a machine ? ” 1) A fictional company name.

If only we could go back in time

by Bob Alisic and Jose Dominguez, members, ISO/TC 176, Quality Management

Working on the principle that the best way to communicate a lesson is a story, this article takes an original approach to demonstrating how ISO 9001:2008, Quality Management Systems – Requirements, and the soon-

to-be published ISO 9004:2009, Managing for the sustained success of an organiza-tion – A quality management approach, can help ensure the sustained success and effective quality assurance of an organization.

The story begins at the boardroom of Top Wheels Inc.1), a late afternoon, some-time in June 2009…

“ We’re in a critical situation. Our monthly sales volume has dropped by nearly 50 % compared to May of last year.”

The Top Wheels Inc. CEO’s voice is trembling. He is giving a presentation to the board.

“ We first saw a 10 % slump in January, and despite our steps to boost sales, the trend has continued.

“ Our factory is now working only three days a week. We’ve ceased all side activities such as training and preventive maintenance on equipment. We’re cut-

ting orders with suppliers, and our sales people in the branch offices are working from home to reduce costs. But still, it’s not enough ! ”

The quality manager intervenes, “ These measures are helping, but we’re still seeing yields drop. Processes are becoming unstable, and we’ve had some production and warehouse incidents – fortunately without serious injuries. But it’s a warning. We can’t go on like this for much longer. And subcontracting has only brought us new problems.”

“ You need to consider the efficiency of your

QMS and the potential for improving performance.”

With evident despair, the CEO asks, “ What went wrong ? ”

After a rather long, painful silence, the new human resources manager, a young and optimistic woman, stands up : “ In my previous company I once worked with two consultants who had rather unusual capa-bilities. Their help averted disaster for the company. I’ve taken the liberty of invit-ing them to share some ideas.”

The sales director immediately objects : “ We’ve hired plenty of consult-ants, and all they do is cost money and time. Forget it ! ”



Main Focus

Going backThe second consultant takes over,

“ First I want you to ask yourselves :

Why are you in this position now ?•Could you have prevented it ?•What would you do differently to avoid •this situation in the future ?

“ These are not easy questions. But think about what you would do if you could start over with the same peo-ple, their capabilities and habits, if we could bring you back in time, to say 1 June, 2005.

“ On our side, we’ll offer you some new tools for managing your organiza-tion. You may feel that you already have enough management and quality tools in place, but for the sake of argument let’s just get into the time machine and go back to 2005 with an open mind.”

Calm before the stormThe board members are sitting

around the table, but appear to be wak-ing up from a long, deep sleep. There are two strangers among them – ah, the consultants.

One stands up, “ Welcome back to June 1, 2005. We are here to help you take a long hard look at your company, so you can see where the future leads and how you can be better prepared.”

“ Top Wheels Inc. has shown sol-id growth in sales and earnings for four years. You have three very loyal large customers in the auto and truck indus-try, and several smaller ones in machine tools. Your customers are very satisfied with your products. That sounds com-fortable and stable, doesn’t it ? Many companies would be envious.

“ But… how certain are you that you can hold on to this position ? You’re making profits, but how much do you waste ? Do you have alternative prod-ucts for your current customers ? Or for other markets ? Do you have a business contingency plan ? ”

est rates we pay on the capital we need to finance our company ? I’m not saying that the worst will happen, but we need to be prepared.”

A warned man counts for two

The operations director rises and speaks almost gruffly, “ We have to look at the risks in our processes. We can’t avoid all of them, but a warned man counts for two. We don’t have a sound strategy for the future. We’re just run-ning and running, with good success so far, but will this last ? ”

One of the consultants speaks up, “ It looks like you all have very differ-ent ideas about how you work and how mature your company is today. And it’s even harder to reach consensus on pro-jections about how the company should perform in the future.”

She tacks up a large sheet of paper with a simplified drawing of the compa-ny’s organizational structure, highlight-ing key process flows. “ Let’s start with some simple steps. Can you identify are-as where you company has difficulties today, by placing these red stickers on the chart ? Please put your name on them so that we can later discuss the different perceptions (see Figure 1).

The operations director comes for-ward to get a better look, “ Hey, I know that part in the middle of your drawing. That’s the ISO 9001 process-based qual-ity management system (QMS). We’re using it, but right now it’s more or less just a paper tiger ”.

“ ISO 9001 allows us to reach more customers, ” explains the sales director,

“ The combination of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 will help you get the most of

your quality system.”

The sales director is blunt, “ There’s no reason to do this. We have good customers who have been with us for a long time. This is a waste of effort, and I need all my time to sell.”

The CEO stands up and speaks, slowly at first, considering his words care-fully, “ Things are fine now, but I have just woken from a nightmare. Imagine that we fell into a financial crisis. How will we be affected ?

“ Will people still buy as many new cars and trucks ? What would hap-pen to our share price and to the inter-



Renewing confidence

“ Our current customers too are happy to see that our certificate is still valid.”

The quality director intervenes, “ ISO 9001 shouldn’t just be a driver for getting a certificate to hang on the wall. In my opinion, this is an important part of our problem.”

“ You’re right, ” agrees the oper-ations director, “ We had trouble link-ing our daily problems with the stand-ard, but this model helps us to see the big picture.”

The HR director comments “ It’s an interesting model, but it doesn’t show the relevance of people in the system ”. To which the quality director replies, “ People are one of the resources to be managed. There are other important resources, like infrastruc-ture and the work environment.”

Could you get more out of ISO 9001 ?

The operations director has a pro-posal, “ It seems that we have different opinions and perceptions about what ISO 9001 represents for our business. Let’s do an exercise.”

The directors go to the front of the room and begin a brainstorming activity to collect ideas on a flipchart (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 : Benefits and issues identified after implementation of ISO 9001.

Benefits Issues

Keep customers Customer communication is reactive

Gain new customers Some customers do not see any value in our ISO 9001 certificate

Understand our business in terms of process

Interaction and communication between the processes is weak

All activities are documented Some documents seem to provide little or no value

People are trained We have problems caused by people, especially subcontractors’ employees

Bad products easily identified Our waste levels are increasing

Management review is held each quarter Top management is not fully committed

Figure 1 : Extended model of a process based quality management system. Red dots indicate difficulties.

Figure 3 : Strategic objectives and related actions, deliverables and owners.

Strategic issue Deliverable Owner

Our process for deciding what is important

Guideline/rule HR Director

Develop contingency planning process

Process flow-chart + responsibilities and authorities table

Quality Director

Prepare contingency plan for key suppliers

Contingency Plan + guideline

Operations Director

After the exercise, the CEO appre-ciates the result, “ I only interact with the QMS in our quarterly review meet-ing. Now I realize how much some of you are supporting the system and I am thankful for your effort.”

He takes a deep breath and, star-ing into the eyes of each member, says seriously : “ My friends, I think we need to do more with ISO 9001.

“ We should be more proactive and use other standards to complement ISO 9001. For instance, is there anything in ISO 9001 about strategic planning ? We have a strategic meeting every year, but we never refer to the standard. Yet some of the topics listed on the flipchart are part of our discussions.”

Organization’s Environment

Customers

Interested Parties

Organization’s Environment

ISO 9001 Ch 7Product

realization

ISO 9001 Ch 8Measurementanalysis andimprovement

ISO 9001 Ch 6Resource

management

ISO 9001 Ch 5 Managementresponsibility

Satisfaction

Requirements & expectations Product

Customers

Interested Parties

Continual improvement of the quality management system leading to sustained sucess

Needs &expectations

ISO 9004

ISO 9004 Ch 4Managing for the sustained

success

ISO 9004 Ch 5Strategy

and policy

ISO 9004 Ch 9Improvement,

innovation and leaning

ISO 9004 Ch 6Resource

management(extended)

ISO 9004 Ch 7Process

management

ISO 9004 Ch 8Monitoringmeasuring

analysis and review

Foundation for Quality Management principles



Main Focus

José Domínguez is leader of the task group responsible for identifying ide-as and concepts that may become the foundation of ISO 9001 in the

future. He was the leader of the task group responsible for the revision of ISO 9001 published in November 2008 and a member of the ISO 9000 Advisory Group. He is also a member of the Board of the Latin American Institute for Quality (INLAC). Involved in quality and other management fields since 1990, José Domínguez is President of Plexus México, a subsidiary of Plexus Interna-tional, which develops and deploys solu-tions for the implementation and improvement of management systems, and related tools and methods.

E-mail : [email protected]

Web : www.plexusintl.com.mx, www.inlac.org

About the authors

Bob Alisic is a member of ISO technical com-mittee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurence, and responsible as a task group lead-er for the devel-

opment of the new ISO 9004:2009. Before starting his own consulting, training and auditing company, ActinQ, he spent 17 years as a consultant and trainer in quality, innovation and change management. Prior to joining the con-sulting field, Bob Alisic spent 20 years with Philips Electronics in very different positions (product development and engineering manager, business manager and divisional technical manager for customer service).

E-mail : [email protected]

Web : www.actinq.nl

The quality director responds, “ Section 5.4 of ISO 9001 is relevant to strategic planning activities. But the standard isn’t covering the strategy defin-ing and deployment process.”

The operations director continues, “ Our quality objectives are focused on product characteristics and on-time deliv-ery. The output of our strategic meeting is the definition of a set of objectives for each unit of our organization. But we’re not considering all the objectives as part of the business strategy. This is a big gap.”

What can we do about it ?

The two consultants stand up, “ This was a good top-level discussion. Now that we know where the problems are, what can we do about it ? ”

“ First, you need to consider both the efficiency of your current QMS and the potential for improving perform-ance. ISO 9004:2009, Managing for the

sustained success of an organization – A quality management approach 2), can help you do just that. When compared to ISO 9001 the objectives of custom-er satisfaction and product quality are extended to include the satisfaction of interested parties and the performance of the organization.”

The consultants pull out a mod-el showing the interaction between ISO 9001 and ISO 9004.

“ As you can see here, there is a correlation between ISO 9001 and ISO 9004. Section 5.4 of ISO 9001 for instance, is directly linked with sections 4 and 5 of ISO 9004. Both could be powerful references in your strategic meetings. The combination of both standards will allow you to get the most of your qual-ity system, so that it doesn’t stay ‘just a paper tiger’.”

Tips and tricksThe consultants propose “ Lets

dig deeper with a tool known as the ‘Self-assessment of key elements of an organization against five maturity lev-els’ as given in the new ISO 9004 (see Figure 4).

“ Read each row and see if your organization is doing what is described in each cell. Stop when you see that some aspects are not implemented. Mark the cell with a red cross. The result is an image of your maturity level per key element.

“ Now, you are ready for the next step. You have to create a management agenda showing what should be done and with what priority. We’ll start by defining your organizational vision. Put a green cross next to the cell describing

2) This newly revised version of ISO 9004 is expected to be published 4th quarter 2009.



Key element Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5What is the management focus ?

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How do we decide what is important ?

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Figure 4 : A segment of a self-assessment table.

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Figure 5 : Expected maturity over 5 years.

Renewing confidence

the maturity you would like to reach over three to four years (see Figure 5).

“ As you can see, there could be a substantial difference between your cur-rent situation and your future. The final step is to develop a set of actions with desired deliverables and deadlines for each of the strategic objectives. These objectives could help you safeguard your future (see Figure 3 on page 27).

“ Now it’s time to use our time machine and return to 2009.”

Back to the futureThe board looks around nervous-

ly. Has anything changed ?

The consultants speak, “ What you need is a new approach. We can’t change what has happened, but we can help you to learn from experience, so that five, ten years later, we are not here wishing for that machine.”

A lesson well taught.

The CEO is the first to speak : “ This was an important learning experi-ence. We are now in the midst of a heavy storm, and we will find a way to survive the crisis. But we must learn how to get our company better prepared to face such situations. We need to identify and man-age risks, learn how to outsource effi-ciently, and most importantly, to have a clear strategy for the future.

“ Let’s agree to revisit ISO 9001:2008, to really capture the ele-ments that will help us improve our performance.

“ Some of our best suppliers and toughest competitors are already gain-ing a huge advantage by combining ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 for their manage-ment systems. Why should we not do the same ? ”

The board concurred, “ Let’s do it ! ”



Main Focus

petitive. It is not possible to put a figure on this confidence.

Irrespective of the state of the economy, customers will not compro-mise on quality or expectations. Tough economic times do not lower customer expectations ; instead they often make customers more discerning. It remains

crucial for organizations to decide how they can maintain their conformity assessment activities given the econom-ic downturn and the expectations of the market. Organizations should recognize that conformity assessment is one tool they can use to demonstrate their com-mitment to quality.

Many organizations are faced with the real problem of changing priorities for allocation of scarce resources and how to maintain their conformity giv-en financial pressures and loss of busi-

tion old assumptions. It is an opportu-nity to determine how to improve prac-tices and make conformance more cost effective for organizations without com-promising the integrity of the conform-ity assessment process. It may result in confirmation of the way things are done or in change.

We believe that all the activities associated with conformity assessment provide organizations with tools to meet customer expectations and remain com-petitive. The economic downturn also gives us an opportunity to re-assess the processes currently used in conformity assessment and to identify how we can do it better and more efficiently.

The benefits of the CASCO toolbox

The CASCO toolbox has been developed to offer a complete set of standards and guides to promote con-sistent and effective conformity assess-ment activities. This allows for recog-nition of conformity assessment carried out in different parts of the world by dif-ferent organizations. But the true benefit of implementing the CASCO toolbox is the confidence it gives management and customers that all reasonable procedures and process have been implemented. This, in turn, allows the organization to meet customer expectations and remain com-

Conformity important to maximizing benefits

by Sean MacCurtain, Secretary, ISO Committee on conformity assessment (ISO/CASCO)

In an economic downturn, conform-ity assessment does not immediate-ly jump to mind as one of the fac-

tors that could be used to assist organi-zations to cope with additional competi-tive pressures. Organizations often tend to cut costs that do not bring direct and immediate returns, while the benefits of conformity assessment are usually incre-mental over the long-term.

Conformity assessment can be adapted to suit the organization’s own circumstances. Changing conditions may impact the way quality is achieved. Use of International Standards for assessing quality helps in the pursuit of continual improvement, and its flexibility is criti-cal in tough economic times.

Room for improvementThe current economic downturn

is causing some organizations to ques-tion the value of continuing with certifi-cation and accreditation. Organizations experiencing a business slowdown may be tempted to postpone such activities to eliminate a real cost.

These organizations, however, need to look at the expense of giving up certification and accreditation. This deci-sion may entail loss of reputation, a lack of confidence from customers, charg-es for product recalls, and many other tangible and intangible costs. The costs of non-conformance, therefore, may be significantly higher than the expense of conformity assessment.

Innovation arises from new chal-lenges and changing circumstances. The economic crisis provides an opportunity re-assess our basic principles and accept-ed methods. It should prompt us to ques-

About the author

Sean MacCur-tain is the Sec-retary of ISO Committee on conformity assessment (ISO/CASCO).



Renewing confidence

ness. There are many competing issues within an organization when it comes to funding. For example, in the area of third party conformity assessment, accreditation and certification bodies are working together to develop strat-egies to reduce the impact of the eco-nomic crisis. It is important that these emerging strategies do not compromise the acceptability of certificates from one country to another.

Dealing with the pressures

Many of the solutions revolve around the postponement of surveillance and recertification activities for organi-zations where there has been a demon-strated fall in business activity. Accred-itation bodies also have been request-ed to do likewise with laboratories and certification bodies. In developing and implementing such strategies, it is vital that the integrity of the system is being maintained and functioning throughout this period, and that only verification is being postponed. How much of a delay is permissible varies according to specif-ic circumstances, but should likely vary between nothing to six months.

The critical factor here is that the conditions for granting a delay or postponement are clearly defined and that there is confidence that conformity is being maintained by the organization during the postponement. Any request for postponement would need to be justified, recorded and backed up by evidence of the system being maintained. It is gener-ally accepted that recertification should not be extended beyond the recertifica-tion date or expiry date of the certificate. There are other options that can be iden-tified on a case-by-case basis.

Conformity assessment activi-ties and the CASCO toolbox can assist organizations to accommodate the pres-sures of the economic downturn, as they have been developed to be performance- and outcome-based. They give organi-zations a number of options on fulfil-ment and the flexibility to adapt when required, without negatively impacting the integrity of the process.

1) The principles laid down in this universal instrument offer guidelines to enterprises, governments, and employers’ and workers’ organizations in such areas as employment, training, conditions of work and life, and industrial relations.

Social responsibility in time of crisis – ISO 26000 and beyond

by Steven Oates, Senior Adviser on Rights at Work, International Labour Organization

Since ISO embarked on the high-ly important development of an International Standard for social

responsibility, the world has been cat-apulted into a global economic crisis. By the time the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility met in Quebec City, Canada, in May 2009 (see article on page 39), the financial markets and the world economy already faced serious global challenges. The severity of the cri-sis and ongoing uncertainties have added urgency to a series of questions.

ISO 26000 framed in the global context

The decent work agenda was already crystallizing in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 2008 Dec-

laration on social justice for a fair glo-balization, which states that violation of rights at work cannot be invoked as a comparative advantage, and that labour standards should not be used for protec-tionist purposes. This Declaration also identified the role of the tripartite dec-laration of principles concerning mul-tinational enterprises and social policy (MNE declaration) 1) and the different actors in addressing social issues.

By early 2009, the G-8 brought further focus to the human dimension of the crisis, pointing also to the promo-tion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives – not least the ILO’s MNE declaration and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel-opment (OECD) Guidelines – as part of a strategy to restore confidence.

Following this, the Group of 20 (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors focused on economic and job growth, with a view to fair and sustaina-ble recovery for all. As requested by the G-20, the UN’s lead in pursuing the mil-lennium development goals (MDGs) and social protection has been complemented



Main Focus

by the supporting roles of the ILO and oth-ers in assessing the situation in terms of employment, education and the most vul-nerable members of society. It was also the G-20 Summit which picked up the idea of a “ global charter ” or “ legal standard ” for sustainable economic activity (one which the United Nations now looks towards).

The OECD has published an admittedly unrefined inventory of pos-sible policy instruments, as tools for fur-ther elaboration of a framework for a stronger, cleaner and fairer world econ-omy. Relevant instruments include ones relating directly to social responsibility, with others concerning economic policy, social justice, enterprise development, the environment and governance, all making for a very complete outline of the exist-ing “ instrumentarium ”.

The international agenda seems to fit so well with what is appearing in ISO 26000.

Thus, the labour practices sec-tion of the future ISO 26000 has, on the basis of ILO standards, been the object of rather solid consensus and agree-ment, while other sections have perhaps required longer elaboration. The impor-tance of this kind of interaction for both the quality of the product and the pros-pects of its subsequent implementation cannot be overvalued.

The ILO global jobs pactThe meeting of ISO Working

Group on Social Responsibility in Que-bec City, Canada, fell neatly between the G-20 Summit in March 2009 and the ILO Conference in June 2009, which adopted the Global Jobs Pact (the Pact).

This conference discussion has been the ILO’s own specific response to the crisis, which is deliberately for-mulated in terms of the added value the organization can provide. And, like ISO 26000, it comes not in the form of a legally binding document, but some-thing with perhaps no less potential for obtaining results.

As with other acts of the ILO con-ference (not including formal standard-setting) and the governing body, there is

About the author

Steven Oates, a solicitor by pro-fession, has long-term expe-rience in super-vision of the application of standards in the International Labour Organi-zation (ILO),

with a special interest in employment poli-cy instruments. He was regional adviser on labour standards in Africa. More recently, his work has been aimed at obtaining better implementation of stand-ards through cooperation in the field, work with international financial institutions and corporate social responsibility. Cur-rently, Mr. Oates is a Senior Adviser on Rights at Work in the office of the ILO Executive Director for Standards and Rights. He has studied at universities in Moscow, Tokyo and Boston (Harvard).

“ It is no accident that the international agenda

fits so well with ISO 26000.”

A strategic alliance The memorandum of understand-

ing (MoU) between the ILO and ISO has had two notable effects alongside that of ensuring technical compatibility between international labour standards and the future ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility.

First, the MoU has helped ena-ble a relationship – perhaps a syner-gy – between the development of ISO standards in areas such as the environ-ment or organizational governance, on one hand, and social, labour and human rights on the other. There is fascinating evidence of this in the (as yet uncon-cluded) discussion taking place among the various stakeholders on how gen-der should be mainstreamed into the future standard.

A second very interesting phe-nomenon is the social dialogue of group interaction, consultation and collective negotiation. While in ISO the numbers of stakeholder groups and substantive issues are larger than in the ILO, the industry (employers) and labour (work-ers) groups are in their respective ways highly coherent and cogent participants in the discussion and definition of the guidance standard.



Renewing confidence

a certain congruence with the anticipat-ed ISO guidance standard in the process of conceiving, formulating and adopt-ing an international, multi-party agree-ment covering social and labour issues. Since the Pact precedes finalization of ISO 26000, it becomes another facet of the context in which the ISO standard approaches fruition.

As a project of the ILO, the Glo-bal Jobs Pact addresses questions of employment, enterprise development, social protection and workplace rights, while dwelling also on the role of social dialogue in the design of policies and their implementation. Some particular provisions can be related to the devel-opment of an ISO International Stand-ard on social responsibility.

ing recovery, which the Pact express-es, gives added reason to the breadth of coverage in ISO 26000’s approach to social responsibility. Action on the var-ious sections of ISO 26000 is likely to coincide with the sort of action called for in the Pact.

Secondly, the Pact takes the posi-tion that the provision of quality public services, in particular, contributes to fair globalization and should be part of the crisis response. Such services contribute directly to efficiency in economic recov-ery and development, and, at the same time, add respect for worker rights and protection of the vulnerable.

Here again, the broadness of the approach taken by ISO 26000, this time in the sense of its applicability to all

Congruence to ISO 26000

The recognition of the MNE Dec-laration as an important tool for enter-prises responding to the crisis in a social-ly responsible manner obviously invites further action on the part of ILO. But there are additional elements of the cri-sis response which find their echo in the ISO 26000 draft.

Firstly, the ILO has increased its attention to the greener economy and the “ green jobs ” issue. To this end, the Pact duly identifies investment and develop-ment as an important focus for job cre-ation and crisis responses. The conver-gence of economic, social and environ-mental interests and actions in promot-

kinds of organizations without exclud-ing those in the public sector, and not limited to organizations directly con-cerned with employment, would fit well and add further value.

Thirdly, the Pact calls on the ILO to engage with other international agen-cies to strengthen policy coherence and crisis response. It is to offer its exper-tise to other bodies within the multilat-eral system. The ILO, through its MoU with ISO – as well as numerous arrange-ments and forms of cooperation with oth-er international organizations – already undertakes engagement of various sorts, while the particular element added here is that of crisis response. It remains for the manner of this engagement to be elabo-rated by the different parties concerned.

The on-going dialogue between ISO and the UN Global Compact has itself been framed in an MoU.

Restoring confidencePerhaps the responsibility of

business in time of crisis has been best articulated by the UN special representa-tive, who notes that even downsizing and plant closings must be conducted respon-sibly. Restoring public trust and confi-dence in business is as much an imme-diate challenge as is reinventing viable business models.

The roles of business and inves-tors and the issue of social responsibility might also, according to the UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination, be elements in a strategy for encouraging and supporting new enterprises in the creation of green jobs, given the emerg-ing global jobs pact.

With this background, the UN con-ference on the world financial and eco-nomic crisis and its impact on develop-ment in June 2009 highlighted the need for new global consensus to promote sus-tainable economic activity and CSR.

And while many international groups address ways of restoring confi-dence amidst the current financial cri-sis, ISO, too, contributes its part as the ISO 26000 working group prepares a now near-final round of drafting.



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Main Focus

The ISO Annual Report 2008 high-lights the ability of Internation-al Standards to provide confi-

dence during the current global finan-cial crisis.

“ Refined to its essence, the objec-tive of ISO standards is to provide con-fidence,” the report states. “ When a product or service meets the specifica-tions or requirements of an ISO stand-ard, this provides confidence that they incorporate essential features. These fea-tures can include quality, ecology, safe-ty, reliability, interoperability efficien-cy and effectiveness. ISO standards also help to ensure such benefits at an eco-nomical cost.”

The report, entitled “ ISO stand-ards. Integrated confidence ”, says that for organizations, implementing ISO stand-ards is a means of integrating confidence with their offering and adds, “ More and more organizations highlight the con-formity of their products or services with ISO standards as an added value. In other words, ISO is well on its way to becom-ing a powerful, international brand which is a synonym for confidence.”

ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele comments: “ This ISO Annual Report shows how in both times of stability and times of risk, ISO and its work provide practical tools for providing confidence, reducing uncertainty and managing risk in a globalized world.”

The report states that during 2008, the ability of ISO standards to ensure and instil confidence became even more important as the repercussions of the global financial crisis made themselves felt across business sectors and econo-mies worldwide.

As the crisis bit in 2008, falling consumption and slim order books made reduced activity the norm – except for ISO, underlining the confidence of pub-lic and private sector stakeholders in the organization and the global relevance of its standards.

At the end of the year, the ISO system comprised 157 national mem-bers (which has since increased to 161), representing 98 % of the world econo-my and 97 % of its population. In 2008, the organization published 1 230 stand-ards, bringing its portfolio to 17 765 by the end of the year.

ISO experienced a surge in activity, launching two new technical committees – to develop standards respectively for solid biofuels and industrial furnaces and associated thermal processing – as well as an increasing scope, launching sev-en project committees (PCs) to develop standards for the following areas :

Network services billing•Product recall•

ISO highlights standards as generators of confidence during global financial crisis

Road-traffic safety management•Energy management•Consumer product safety•Cross-border trade of second-hand •goods

Anti-counterfeiting tools.•The ISO Annual Report 2008 goes

on to give examples of ISO standards published during the year which helped to provide confidence in areas such as business continuity, e-business, the envi-ronment, governance, health, innovation, measurement, safety and sustainability. These are completed by a round-up of the results achieved by ISO in 2008



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their access to a full range of goods and services, fair prices and information. International Standards can help by dis-seminating best practice and facilitating innovation – allowing businesses to bet-ter channel research efforts and to mar-ket new technologies.

Mr. Sharad Gupta, BIS’s Direc-tor-General welcomed the initiative : “ These workshops provide a forum for COPOLCO to develop recommendations for action, policy statements, guides for standards writers and proposals for new areas of standardization. ”

Ms. Jai Ok Kim, Chair of COPOL-CO, emphasized the timeliness of this event, following a survey of COPOLCO members indicating a high level of con-cern regarding interoperability.

One size to fit all?Interoperability requires compati-

bility of spare parts, accessories and com-ponents among different models, product lines and brands of, for example, house-hold appliances or electronic goods. It also concerns services such as insurance, car repair services, banking and health-care, notably regarding transparency of information and service delivery. In addi-tion, it enables effective information and communication technologies.

“ Interoperability also helps in the transfer of technology, manufactur-ing practices and testing methods from developed countries to developing coun-tries, ” emphasized Mr. Gupta.

Mr. Y.S. Bhave, Secretary of the Indian Department of Consumer Affairs,

Developments and Initiatives

Highlights of the 2009 COPOLCO workshop

by Maria Lazarte, Assistant Editor, ISO Focus

If you have ever wondered why you need so many different remote con-trols for your television, DVD play-

er and stereo, why your computer fails to open some files, or why some shops cannot accept your credit card, then you are familiar with the widely experienced consumer issue that was at the heart of the 31st annual workshop of the ISO Com-mittee on consumer policy (COPOLCO) – interoperability.

About 100 participants from con-sumer associations, public authorities, businesses and from the national stand-ards bodies of some 30 countries attended the event, held in May 2009, in New Del-hi, India, and organized with the support of the ISO member for the country, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

The workshop looked at areas where lack of interoperability poses safety risks to consumers and restricts

warned about the consequen ces of fail-ing to promote interoperability, includ-ing the risk of monopolies and market failure.

“ Standards, ” he said, “ are an inte-gral element of consumer protection, and are often the basis of national legislation and certification schemes. ” He added that standards for interoperability con-tribute to the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection which include the right to safety, to be informed, to choose, to be heard, to satisfaction of basic needs, to redress, to education and a healthy environment.

Dr. Alinda Chandra, BIS’s Addition-al Director-General, reiterated the impor-tance of interoperability standards for pro-moting the well-being of consumers.

Speakers at the workshop (from left) : Mr. Steve Mutkoski, Dr. Gabriela Fleischer, Ms. Anne Ferguson (panel moderator), Mr. Allan Asher, Dr. T. S. Mohan. (Photo : S S Studio).

Does it fit, will it work and can standards help ?



computers. In 2006, COPOLCO issued a recommendation proposing to stand-ardize batteries and battery chargers, which was taken into consideration by the International Electrotechnical Com-mission. In addition, a voluntary agree-ment for interoperable connectors for mobile phones known as the “ Open mobile terminal platform ” has received industry support. Furthermore, major manufacturers have recently struck a deal with the European Union to stand-ardize mobile phone battery chargers to the micro-USB plug.

40 000 tonnes of e-waste

Apart from convenience and comfort, interoperability is important for reducing waste. “ In the European Union alone, about 40 000 tonnes of e-waste are produced every 20 months and in China, 36 000 tonnes ! ” said Dr. Fleischer.

Participants agreed, piles and piles of electronic equipment lie unused because every time there is need for a new appliance, consumers are forced to buy all components (memory cards, bat-teries, spares, etc.). With standardized products, it would not be necessary to throw everything away.

Play that music, baby !Businesses too can suffer from

neglected interoperability.

Mr. Allan Asher, Chair of the Consumer and Public Interest Network at the British Standards Institution (BSI) explained : “ Lack of interoperability hinders competition, which in itself is a healthy way of improving quality and reducing prices.” If threatened, this will have consequences for both consumers and vendors.

“ Goods and services common-ly require other goods and services for them to be useful, ” said Mr. Asher. He then recounted how the iPod’s original chargers used a firewire device found mainly in Apple computers. The com-pany soon realized that this was hinder-ing uptake of the product, and switched their chargers to the ubiquitous USB connections. iPod’s subsequent success speaks for itself.

At the opening ceremony of the COPOLCO workshop in New Delhi (from left) : Mr. Y.S. Bhave, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India; Mrs. Madhulika Prakash, Deputy-Director General (technical) BIS; Mr. Sharad Gupta, Director-General, BIS; Ms. Jai Ok Kim, Chair of COPOLCO; Dr. Alinda Chandra, Additional Director-General, BIS. (Photo : S S Studio).

Focusing on some of the conse-quences of incompatible products and services, participants at the workshop discussed how International Standards can help achieve consumer expecta-tions in terms of cost savings, longer product life, greater convenience and reduced waste.

Not a matter of “ karma ”Local concerns were raised by

Dr. T.S. Mohan, Principal Researcher at Infosys Private Ltd. He explained that with over one billion people, India is a “ sleeping giant ” with a growing mar-ket potential. But Dr. Mohan regretted the Indian consumer’s passivity. Faced on a daily basis with a lack of interop-erability, Indian consumers, like many others around the world, respond fatal-istically : “ Thoda adjust karo ! (adjust and make do) It’s karma ”. The result is money spent less wisely, lost productiv-ity and lost goodwill.

Dr. Mohan called for education, certification and public and private

partnerships to wake up the “ sleeping giant ” and get key stakeholders – par-ticularly consumers – to stand up for their needs.

One kilo worth of chargers

The need for interoperability is most notable in widely used products. An example of how its absence can affect consumers was given by Dr. Gabriela Fleischer, a Project Manager with the German national standards body, DIN.

Putting herself in the shoes of an average business traveller, she counted and weighed the multiple battery chargers and adaptors needed to plug in her lap-top, mobile phones, camera, MP3 play-er, and so on. The result? One kilo worth of equipment. “ In terms of airline over-weight charges ”, she added, “ this can cost as much as 40 Euros per flight ! ”

However, there is good news. Dr. Fleischer mentioned that the Republic of Korea is working on a standard for power supplies of portable personal




President of India opens ISO/COPOLCO plenary

“ Awake, consumers ! Awake ! ”, exclaimed the President of India, Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil, in her opening message to the 31st ple-nary meeting of the ISO Committee on consumer policy (COPOLCO) in May 2009, in New Delhi, India.

The President was referring to a media campaign organized in India to raise awareness about consumer matters. Speaking to an audience of over 100 par-ticipants from consumer associations, public authorities, businesses and the national standards bodies of some 30 countries, she emphasized : “ Consumer protection is of special significance to each of us, as we are all consumers. ”

The Indian President highlighted the vulnerability of consumers who, living in a world of rapidly developing tech-nology, often do not have access to full or correct information on new and increasingly complex products.

“ Standards play a key role in consumer protection,” she said. “ For building confi-dence, more meaningful participation by consumer organizations is required for developing standards both at the nation-al and international levels. Moreover, there is also a need to encourage the implementation of standards concerning consumer safety both at the national and international levels. ”

Drawing attention to the standards and guides inspired or developed by COPOLCO, the President recom-mended that national governments use them to disseminate information and to empower consumers.

The President also emphasized the importance of standards in India’s approach to addressing the current global economic crisis. She declared : “ Stimulating consumer demand and creating confidence in institutions and markets is one of the focal areas for tackling the situation.

The President of India, Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil (left) and the Indian Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Shri Sharad Pawar (right) at the inauguration ceremony of the 31st ISO/COPOLCO plenary.

“ This requires products that meet standards quality and services that have an assurance of safety… Hence for us, consumer protection is of great significance, both as part of a sound business approach, as well as for achieving the broader goal of national economic growth. ”

Referring to the global cross-boundary manufacturing of products, she said : “ Countries should look at a coordinat-ed approach to meet the needs of the consumer satisfactorily by developing standards that take into account their concerns.

“ In an interlinked world, it is equally important to expeditiously conclude mutual recognition agreements of standards between countries to pro-mote international trade and to enable faster movement of goods. A common set of accepted standards will avoid unnecessary trade disputes and will be a guide to exporters for supplying standard goods overseas. ”

Dana Kissinger-Matray, Secretary of COPOLCO, spoke on behalf of the ISO President, thanking the Bureau

of Indian Standards (BIS), host of the meeting and ISO member for India. She emphasized the relevance of hold-ing the event in the country, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with a consumer pool of over one billion people. “ India, our host, is typical of the trends and the progress possible in our interconnected world, ” she said.

“ Today, services are a major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India’s output. It is vital, therefore, that India gets increasingly involved in international standardiza-tion because of the added value this can bring. ”

Ms. Kissinger-Matray concluded : “ International Standards help ensure technical compatibility across countries and industries and convey information to consumers about products that have been produced abroad, or processes that have taken place in another country. International Standards thus reduce transaction costs and facilitate international trade. ”

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COPOLCO - program workshop India 2009.indd 3-4 13.05.2009 12:06:31

Gateways of informationMs. Indrani Thuraisingham, Head

of Consumers International, Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, emphasized that consumers should have access to knowledge, which is the fruit of their society’s culture and science. Market barriers resulting in a lack of interoperability can seriously hinder this access.

Ms. Thuraisingham underlined the importance of involving consumer representatives in standardization as part of the solution, but that in addi-tion to standards, more action may be necessary.

The voice of industryAnother challenge identified by

participants was that interoperability is often understood differently by consum-ers, business and other stakeholders.

An industry view was provided by Steve Mutkoski, Senior Standards Strate-gist in the corporate interoperability and standards group of Microsoft.

For Mr. Mutkoski, companies often perceive interoperability as just another feature that consumers may want. He said that, in the last five years, there have been some dramatic changes in this perception, but empha-sized that consumers need to be more active in letting organizations know which attributes and services they would like to see.

Standards in information and communication technology (ICT) tend to be driven by the need for industry consensus and not regulation. They are often highly complex, and must keep pace with continuous techno-logical developments. Mr. Mutkoski argued that the most successful stand-ards are often the ones that have previ-ously proved themselves, like the PDF, and that market support is crucial for their uptake.

Mr. Mutkoski concluded that standards can support interoperability, but in the rapidly changing world of ICT, more may also be needed.

The counterfeiting challenge

For Mr. R. A. Venkitachalam, Vice-President and General Manager (India) of the Underwriters Laboratory (UL), coun-terfeiting also poses challenges to inter-operability, as well as to product safety and intellectual property rights.

Certification can help. Mr. Ven-kitachalam spoke on the voluntary mark developed by UL to ascertain the authen-ticity of a product (with a holographic version for high risk products). UL has also responded to counterfeiting with a combination of enforcement (working with government agencies and police), education (of customs and border pro-tection personnel, and other key agencies and international authorities) and part-nerships with global agencies.

A forum for actionBreak-out sessions confirmed inter-

operability as a key consumer issue. The most common priority areas identified con-cerned software and plugs and batteries of electronic appliances. Overall, participants agreed that International Standards are use-ful tools for promoting compatibility, but that consumer involvement is key.

The workshop preceded the COPOLCO plenary, which reviewed current consumer priorities in standard-ization and agreed on the roadmap for future progress. The delegates resolved to investigate the feasibility of stand-ards for consumer purchase guarantees and call centres.

There was considerable focus on the environment with requests for ISO to consider a COPOLCO proposal, Guide-lines for the assessment and improvement of energy services to users, as well as the feasibility of standards for smart meters, devices producing domestic renewable energy and global sustainability of bio-fuels. ISO has already taken steps to integrate the consumer view on energy priorities, by inviting a consumer repre-sentative to join the ISO Strategic Advi-sory Group on Energy.1)

Support was reiterated for the current terms of reference and consum-er focus of COPOLCO.

1) Currently, Mr. Allan Asher, Chair, Consumer and Public Interest Network, British Standards Institution.



by Sandrine Tranchard, Communication Officer, ISO Central Secretariat

Consensus was achieved among the multi-stakeholder participants in the ISO Working Group on Social

Responsibility (ISO/WG SR) at its lat-est meeting on the way forward for the future ISO 26000 standard.

The group’s 7th plenary meeting, held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on 18-22 May 2009, addressed issues stem-ming from the more than 3 000 com-ments submitted in a successful vote on the Committee Draft of the standard tak-en before the meeting. ISO 26000 is now moving to the status of a Draft Interna-tional Standard by October 2009.

Progress on how to deal with key issues stemming from the ballot comments was the main outcome of the Quebec City meeting which brought together more than 300 experts from 60 countries and around 20 liaison organizations.

ISO 26000 will provide organi-zations with guidance on incorporating social responsibility into their operations. It is being developed by multi-stakeholder representatives, including a strong par-ticipation by developing countries. The number of developing countries in the

Extensive debate improves consensus on future ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility

WG is still increasing – it now includes 221 experts from 63 developing coun-tries and 136 experts from developed countries.

The Quebec meeting stakeholder dialogue resulted in moving ISO 26000 closer to completion on complex issues

such as barriers to trade, human rights and user friendliness.

Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Chair of the Working Group Social Responsibility, commented : “ This was an outstanding meeting which included some ‘passion-ate’ debates. Nevertheless, the sense of

Members of the ISO WG SR leadership team pictured at the Quebec plenary meeting (from left) : Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Chair ; Kristina Sandberg, Secretary ; Eduardo Campos de São Thiago, Co-Secretary ; Staffan Söderberg, Vice-Chair, with Sophie Clivio, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat. (Photo : Jorge E.R. Cajazeira).



Zero waste, zero carbon

The 7th ISO Social Responsibility Plenary Meeting aspired to be a responsible event and was managed to be “ zero waste ” – “ zero carbon ”, the first of its kind for this Working Group.

Several aspects of the programme put forth by the Centre des congrès de Québec allowed to reduce the environmental footprint of the event through concrete actions and offsetting measures.

Zero waste : Activities are planned and conducted with particular attention to source reduction and low consumption of materials, as well as waste recovery and upgrade.

Zero carbon : Activities are conducted in such as way as to limit GHG emissions and offset unavoidable CO2 emissions.

Examples of actions taken or to be implemented

During planning:

Most meetings are conducted through teleconferencing or •videoconferencing

All suppliers are selected based on sustainable development criteria•No printed material at meetings •Information is disseminated using electronic means •CO• 2 emissions are measured and offset

Local caterers are hired when meals have to be planned.•

During the event :

Source reduction of material production and distribution•– No delegate kits

– Minimum amount of printed information

Reduction of disposable (one-use) materials•Optimal use of permanent infrastructures•Data gathering on means of transportation and distances travelled by •participants and users.

Upon wrap-up :

Dissemination of the event’s waste management report•GHG emission offset. •

justice and the fairness has never been closer and has allowed us to move the draft ISO 26000 to another crucial step in its path to publication.”

Staffan Söderberg, WG SR Vice Chair, added : “ All in all, we worked approximately 7 000 man-hours during the week and it is small miracle to see 305 committed SR experts reach consen-sus on complex issues. We have really been able to enhance agreement on this draft guidance standard on social respon-sibility and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The meeting was attended by Kevin McKinley, ISO Deputy Secre-tary-General, who commented : “ It was a week-long effort when every-thing was done beforehand to prepare the stage for fulsome and transparent debate. The Working Group was able to focus intensively on resolving com-ments and further enhancing consensus on the document.”

The 7th plenary meeting was host-ed by the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ – the Quebec Standardiza-tion Bureau) in collaboration with Stand-ards Council of Canada and the Min-istère des Relations internationales du Québec (the Quebec Ministry of Interna-tional Relations). Quebec Premier, Jean Charest, and the Minister of International Relations, Pierre Arcand, made welcome speeches to the participants.

In the spirit of social responsi-bility, the meeting was organized to be a “ zero waste–zero carbon ” event – the first of its kind for this WG.

The next meeting of the ISO/WG SR will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the first half of 2010. The publication of ISO 26000 is targeted for September 2010.

Further information on the ISO/WG SR and ISO 26000 is available on its public Web site : www.iso.org/sr. Its working documents are publicly acces-sible at : www.iso.org/wgsr.



ISO President highlights role of standards for economic recovery

The economic crisis, and the con-tribution of standards to recovery and to restoring confidence, were

at the heart of a series of visits and inter-ventions made by ISO President Dr. Alan Morrison, in June 2009.

Dr. Morrison also focused on the benefits that participating in stand-ardization can have for developing countries, including the possibility to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge directly, influence the technical content of standards important to their econ-omy, and gain hands-on experience in standardization work that can be put to use in building up their own national infrastructures. He referred to the ISO efforts aimed at facilitating participa-tion of developing countries, such as the ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries 2005-2010.

Dr. Morrison also drew atten-tion to the current consultation for the 2011-2015 ISO strategic plan, and the importance of getting involved in shap-ing ISO’s future roadmap.

In his visits to the ISO members for the Republic of Korea (KATS) and Viet Nam (STAMEQ), Dr. Morrison had the opportunity to meet with board mem-bers and senior management of the two organizations, as well as with key public authorities in the countries. He congratu-lated the members on their participation in international standardization, and called for them to continue to get increasingly involved in ISO work. While in the Repub-lic of Korea, he also attended the “ World Economic Forum on East Asia. ”

In that same month, the ISO Pres-ident participated in a seminar organ-ized by BSN (ISO member for Indone-sia) on the impact of standardization on the economy.

During his visits and interven-tions, the ISO President emphasized the importance of rebuilding confidence lost by the crisis, and promoting good busi-ness and governance practice, as well

as responding to the need for better risk management and ensuring business con-tinuity. “ Good International Standards ”, he said, “ promote business and help to restore the confidence essential to eco-nomic development. ” He mentioned that ISO is doing well in these troubled times, with four more members joining at the beginning of 2009.

Dr. Morrison highlighted the recent-ly published ISO brochure, entitled ISO International Standards – Today’s state-of-the-art global solutions for CEOs, as a key document providing examples of how ISO’s activities can provide confidence. Targeted to top executives, it explains why International Standards have to be on the leadership agenda. He called on members to do the utmost to get it on the desks of the CEOs in their country.

From left: KATS Administrator Mr. Insuk Nam with ISO President Dr. Alan Morrison.

ISO President Dr. Alan Morrison

(left) with Viet Nam’s Vice

Prime Minister Dr. Nguyen

Thien Nhan.

Participants at the BSN seminar “Impact of standardization on the economy.”



ISO begins work on standard for more customer-friendly utility bills


ISO has begun work on a standard that will establish a harmonized and transparent framework for billing

information of network services, such as electricity, water and gas.

The project committee develop-ing the standard, ISO/PC 239, Network services billing, met for the first time in June 2009, in London, United King-dom (UK).

Participants from around the world actively discussed the scope of the future standard (ISO 14452), which will promote more customer-oriented billing practices and service provision.

Although billing systems vary from country to country, and from indus-try to industry, participants agreed to tar-get utilities such as electricity, water, gas and communications, with the support of the International Electrotechnical Com-mission and the International Telecom-munication Union, as well as other key organizations in the field.

The committee also issued an open call for interested parties wishing to get involved (through the ISO mem-ber of their respective country). Already, seven countries have participant status in ISO/PC 239, while an additional five

are observers. Among its members, Israel (who holds the Secretariat), the Repub-lic of Korea (who holds the Chair), the Netherlands and the UK were present at the first meeting, together with an Asian consumers group.

ISO/PC 239, Network services billing, was established following a pro-posal from the ISO Committee on con-sumer policy (ISO/COPOLCO), which noted that billing makes-up a substan-tial part of overall consumer complaints against utilities. A study carried-out in 2004 by Energywatch, the gas and electricity consumer council in the UK, suggested that up to a third of custom-ers regularly contact their energy sup-pliers to query or complain about their bills. According to the study, this could amount to as many as 60 million unnec-essary contacts per year.

The future International Standard will provide a market-based and market-sensitive approach for dealing with con-sumer concerns. It will make it easier for customers to read and understand their bills and verify the accuracy of charg-es. The standard will also encourage a

timely delivery of bills and help over-come language and cultural barriers. It may contribute to reducing consum-er debt arising from poorly understood or late bills.

ISO 14452 will also benefit sup-pliers by increasing customer satisfac-tion, promoting confidence in service providers and lowering costs brought by customer complaints.

“ This effort is particularly time-ly ” said Dr. Vokyung Song, Chair of ISO/PC 239 “ given the continuous growth of cross-border trade which calls for harmo-nized approaches to billing. ISO 14452 will help businesses to become more competitive in the global marketplace. It will also make it easier for customers to compare providers and make informed choices,” concluded Dr. Song.

The event was hosted by the ISO member for the UK, the British Stand-ards Institution (BSI).




New edition of ISO/TS 16949 quality specification for automotive industry supply chain

by Elizabeth Gasiorowski-Denis, Editor, ISO Focus

ISO has just published a new edition of ISO/TS 16949:2009, which spec-ifies quality system requirements for

suppliers in the automotive sector.

ISO/TS 16949:2009, Quality man-agement systems – Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2008 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations, replaces the 2002 edition which has been used by the major automotive manufacturers to approve more than 35 000 organizations worldwide that produce and supply parts for the sector.

The review of ISO/TS 16949:2002 resulting in the 2009 edition was carried out by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and ISO technical commit-tee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance. The generalized implementation of ISO/TS 16949 qual-ity management systems by automotive suppliers is seen as an opportunity to improve quality while reducing costs.

ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele commented : “ With the global nature of the automotive industry, quality management systems based on ISO/TS 16949:2009 throughout the supply chain will serve to streamline operations, and thus help organizations cut costs while improv-ing efficiency. The publication of ISO/TS 16949 will assist the sector, reassure consumers, and ensure significant ben-efits for automotive suppliers amid the challenges facing the industry.”

The new document aims at the development of a quality manage-ment system that provides for contin-ual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of vari-

ation and waste in the supply chain. Incorporating the requirements of ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TS 16949:2009 also includes detailed, sector-specific require-ments for employee competence, aware-ness and training, design and develop-ment, production and service provision, control of monitoring and measuring devices, as well as measurement, anal-ysis and improvement.

Joe Bransky, a member of the IATF comments : “ In today's lean man-ufacturing environment, huge contin-gency stocks of inventory have given way to just-in-time logistics and deliv-ery. The foundation of certainty that ISO/TS 16949:2009 provides in terms of improved productivity, quality, and delivery in the supply-chain, is proba-bly more essential than ever.”

The 2009 edition results from the amendment of ISO/TS 16949:2002 to ensure its compatibility with the require-ments of ISO 9001:2008, Quality man-agement systems – Requirements. There are no essential changes to the technical requirements. The modifications relate mainly to the management requirements in the document to reflect the content of ISO 9001:2008, and those that are intended to improve consistency with the environmental management system standard, ISO 14001:2004.

Up to the end of December 2008, at least 39 300 ISO/TS 16949:2002 cer-tificates had been issued in 81 countries and economies. This represents a 12 % increase over 2007.

The IATF has set a transition period of 120 days from date of pub-lication of the new edition – 15 June – for organizations to comply with the standard's requirements. The details of the plan are given in a communiqué by the IATF Oversight Certification Body (www.iatfglobaloversight.org).

ISO/TS 16949:2009 was prepared by the IATF, with the support of ISO tech-nical committee ISO/TC 176, which is responsible for the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards.

ISO/TS 16949:2009, Quality man-agement systems – Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2008 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations, is available from ISO national member institutes. It may also be obtained directly from the ISO Central Secretariat through the ISO Store (www.iso.org/isostore) or by con-tacting the Marketing & Communication department ([email protected]).

New on the shelf



harnesses and pooled all the informa-tion together.”

“ This standard is great news for manufacturers of sailing trapezes who will now have one global source for safety requirements. In Europe, har-nesses complying with the standard will bear the CE mark, which is compulso-ry for safety equipment of this type ” he concluded.

ISO 10862 is the result of a multi-stakeholder process which included the participation of recreational craft user groups as well as industry. Sailors were also invited to discuss the concerns they experienced when using trapezes.

The standard will be of interest to sailing associations, retailer organizers and manufacturers of sailing equipment.

ISO 10862:2009, Small craft – Quick release system for trapeze harness, was prepared by ISO technical commit-tee ISO/TC 188, Small craft, in collabo-ration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)'s CEN/TC 162, Protective clothing including hand and arm protection and lifejackets.

It is available from ISO national member institutes. It may also be obtained directly from the ISO Central Secretari-at through the ISO Store (www.iso.org/isostore) or by contacting the Marketing & Communication department ([email protected]).

selves at any time, or they risk becom-ing trapped underwater or in dangerous conditions.

The new standard, ISO 10862:2009, Small craft – Quick release system for trapeze harness, provides requirements and test methods to ensure the correct operation of safety release devices, ena-bling the wearer to unhook rapidly in the event of an emergency.

Such a device should be easily accessible and able to be operated in all conditions, even when a craft is cap-sized or inverted.

ISO standard to save sailing enthusiasts from danger and drowning


New on the shelf

“ ISO 10862 includes a number of important features which could save a sailor's life ” said Ken Kershaw, a recrea-tional craft safety expert, actively involved in the development of ISO 10862 and other small craft ISO standards.

Among the safety requirements the standard prescribes is a release time short-er than five seconds. Taking into account real life conditions, it also requires that the device be operable with only one hand and with the full finger neoprene gloves used in cold environments. At the same time, the safety mechanism should not to be released inadvertently.

“ When preparing ISO 10862,” Mr. Kershaw explained, “ we looked at other release systems used in kite surf-ing, mountaineering and deck safety

A new ISO standard will help pre-vent death and injury to sailors attached to sailing trapezes on

small craft, by ensuring they can release themselves from the wire hooking them to the boat in emergencies.

Although statistically sailing is one of the safer leisure activities, a number of incidents, sometimes fatal, have been reported involving trapeze wires.

A trapeze consists of a harness worn around the waist and attached to the upper mast by a wire, which allows sailors to hang outside the boat. Many models of sailing dinghy and catamarans include trapezes, as they are widely used to increase control and speed of a craft. But sailors must be able to detach them-



Main Focus


Clean energy and climate change2009 is a crucial year in the inter-

national effort to address climate change, culminating in the United Nations Cli-mate Change Conference in Copenha-gen at the end of the year.

According to the International Ener-gy Agency, the energy sector will have to play the central role in curbing emissions – through major improvements in effi-ciency and increased use of renewables and other low-carbon technologies. As in many other fields, International Standards have made, and will increasingly make, an important contribution.

Energy efficiency is ISO’s pri-mary focus in the energy field today, because it represents by far the most relevant, shorter time frame and lower investment line of action able to curb global energy demand and reduce car-bon emissions. ISO is also increasing-ly working on standards for renewable energy sources, with a view to respond and possibly to anticipate market and society needs in this field.

As concerns climate change, Inter-national Standards have an important role to play in contributing to global efforts toward formulation of mitigation policies. Their contribution to climate change is highlighted in this year’s World Standards Day, the theme of which is “ Tackling cli-mate change through standards ”.

The September 2009 ISO Focus issue will look at the combined themes of energy and climate change. This month‘s dossier hones in on what ISO is doing to preserve the environment, and why stand-ards are first-rate tools to help meet the international clean energy and climate change challenges.

The issue brings together a port-folio of articles from a diverse range of subjects, from electric cars, energy effi-ciency of buildings, energy management systems (the future ISO 50001), general energy terminology and the carbon foot-print standard (the future ISO 14067). The range of renewables from ISO and Inter-national Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) help to contribute to a healthier, more sustainable planet are also includ-ed. Last, but not least, concrete examples of how International Standards are used in greenhouse gas schemes around the world will also be highlighted.

In an exclusive interview in the Sep-tember 2009 issue of ISO Focus, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, explains his expectations for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. For Yvo de Boer, ISO is making an important contri-bution to climate protection. He says that “ The ISO 14064 standards for greenhouse gas accounting and verification provide a set of tools for programmes aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as for emissions trading.”

Coming up

Trade benefits of SDoCWritten by experts from the Organ-

isation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the article exam-ines research undertaken by the organi-zation which demonstrates that suppli-er’s declaration of conformity (SDoc) can bring calculable benefits.

The research was prompted by the desire of governments in the world’s major economies to evaluate the practical impact of a clause in the Technical Bar-riers to Trade (TBT) Agreement of the World Trade Organization, which aims to minimize the burden that conformity assessment requirements may impose on exporters. Governments wanted to know whether SDoC – the simplest regulato-ry approach to conformity assessment – really works.

Harmonizing tsunami signageCountries in the Caribbean have

agreed to consider adopting the graphical symbols included in the ISO 20712 series on water safety and beach flag signs to harmonize tsunami signage.

The article looks at the need for early warning systems and how harmo-nized tsunami signage, International Standard ISO 20712, can be an integral part of a community’s effort to build and sustain preparedness against tsunamis.



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Documents

ISO Focus · 2016. 7. 13. · ISO Focus Volume 6, No. 7, July-August 2009, ISSN 1729-8709 The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization • World Bank economist