All in all, I think consumers are better off trusting the ISO 26000 versus the other models. Hopefully in the near future at least some of the guidelines will be certifiable. In the meantime, the more consumers that demand that companies follow the guidelines, or any guidelines for that matter, the more organizations will manufacture and sell their products in line with them. This is, after all, the ultimate goal.
The question remains, when does the law step in? If there is little incentive, but much necessity for companies to operate in more socially responsible manners, then at what point do regulations need to become mandatory and to that end, what do monitoring and enforcement look like? To me, the big questions here are, should the law step in, what do violations look like, who is reporting, and how are regulations enforced?
Tags: ISO 26000, JUST label, Novethic, Project label, socially responsible business
