Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LONDON1627
2008-06-13 17:07:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy London
Cable title:  

UK SHARES USG CONCERNS RE ISO 26000 DRAFT

Tags:  ECON ETRD WTRO EFIN UK 
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VZCZCXYZ0045
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLO #1627 1651707
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131707Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8934
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 2656
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0786
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1146
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0374
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0167
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0564
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 1156
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0345
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0249
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1047
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 1396
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 0752
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0181
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0533
UNCLAS LONDON 001627 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD WTRO EFIN UK
SUBJECT: UK SHARES USG CONCERNS RE ISO 26000 DRAFT

REFTEL: SECSTATE 55239

Summary
-------

UNCLAS LONDON 001627

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD WTRO EFIN UK
SUBJECT: UK SHARES USG CONCERNS RE ISO 26000 DRAFT

REFTEL: SECSTATE 55239

Summary
--------------


1. The UK shares the concerns outlined in the reftel non-paper.
They have just received a new working draft 4.2 of ISO 26000. It
has not yet been reviewed by the government or discussed with the UK
ISO Working Group, but it appears to raise the same concerns as the
prior draft. This is the draft that will be discussed at the next
ISO meeting in Santiago, Chile next September. We delivered the
non-paper to contacts in the Foreign and Commercial Office (FCO),
the Department for International Development (DIFID),and the
department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform (BERR).
BERR is the lead UK agency regarding ISO 26000 and Tony Pedrotti,
Director - Sustainable Development & Regulation Directorate at BERR
outlined the above UK government position to Econoff. Pedrotti said
he will contact the USG ISO representative in Santiago to discuss
the common U.S. and UK concerns raised by the ISO 26000 working
draft. END SUMMARY


2. The government member of the UKWG is Tony Pedrotti, Director,
Sustainable Development & Regulation Directorate at BERR. We gave
the non-paper to Pedrotti on June 2 and he gave his comments on June

11. Pedrotti said he had attended the last two meetings of the
UKWG. He said the UK government understands and shares the concerns
described in the non-paper. He said that ISO 26000 was intended to
be a guidance standard rather than a management standard. He said
the objective of guidance standards is purely to raise awareness of
an issue whereas management standards are very specific and are
intended to mandate strict compliance. Pedrotti said that there
were those who wanted ISO 26000 to go well beyond being a guidance
standard, including a member of the drafting committee.


3. Pedrotti said that he is responsible for advising other UK
government departments regarding developments on ISO 26000. He said
he had just received the new working draft 4.2 of ISO 26000 that he
would circulate through Whitehall to key contacts at all government
departments. These key contacts will circulate the new draft within
their departments and provide both policy and drafting guidance for
the next meeting of the UKWG. The next international meeting to
discuss ISO 26000 will be in Santigao, Chile next September, and it
is this draft that will be discussed at that meeting. He said he
would get in touch with the USG representative to discuss the shared
concerns on ISO 26000 prior to the next ISO meeting in Santiago in
September.


4. In addition to passing the non-paper to the UKWG and BERR,
Econoff sent the non-paper on May 28 to contacts at the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International
Development (DIFID). Both DIFID and the FCO responded that they
had no involvement in the ISO standards process and referred me to
the government representative at BERR.


5. Econoff also passed the non-paper on May 28 to Monika Green who
manages the UK working group on ISO 26000 (UKWG). Green works at
the BSI Group, (formerly the British Standards Institute) the
independent product testing and standards-setting organization in
the UK. The UKWG is made up of representatives from each of the
six identified and agreed stakeholder categories spelled out in
reftel (industry, government, labor, consumers, NGOs, and Service
Support Research and Others. Green would not identify any of the six
UKWG members by name, but said the six stakeholder groups were
represented as follows.
-Industry Precast Concrete Association
-Government Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)
-Labor Trade Union Council
-Consumers Private individual
-NGOs Private Individual
-SSRO Private Individual

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