(New York) – To clarify misconceptions resulting from the Global Compact’s request to remove a reference to the initiative from the annex to the draft ISO 26000 corporate responsibility standard, the Global Compact Office has released an exchange of letters between the Global Compact’s Executive Director Georg Kell and Rob Steele, Secretary-General of the International Organization for Standardization.

In his letter dated 16 July, Georg Kell explained that ” our request for removal of the Global Compact reference from this annex has repeatedly been misconstrued as a general disapproval of ISO 26000 we wanted to emphasize that this is simply not the case”. He went on to point out that ” the Global Compact has supported and continues to support ISO in the development of ISO 26000″ and stressed the “complementary nature” of both approaches.

In his reply, Mr. Steel expressd his organization’s appreciation for the Global Compact’s support and contribution to the development of ISO 26000, particularly through the work of Global Compact Local Networks. ” I am pleased that, on the whole, you view that there is substantial consistency and complementarity between the current draft of the ISO 26000 and the Global Compact ten principles,” he wrote.

ISO and the Global Compact will continue to collaborate in the further development of ISO 26000, based on a Memorandum of Understanding between both organizations signed in November 2006.

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