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Society Efficiency and productivity are frequent benefits of ISO's standards. At the same time, standards also result in societal benefits in addition to the economic ones. An example is the project to develop ISO 26000, the standard giving guidance on social responsibility, which passed an important stage in its development in 2009 by moving from a committee draft to a Draft Interna- tional Standard (DIS), indicating that a high level of con- sensus and mutual confidence has been built among the multistakeholder representation within the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG SR). Progress on how to deal with the key issues stem- ming from the ballot comments (totalling more than 3 000 comments) was made at the group's 7 th plenary meeting in Québec City, Canada, which brought together more than 300 experts from 60 countries and around 20 liaison organizations. ISO's partners involved in developing the future ISO 26000 standard include the United Nations Global Compact and the International Labour Organi- zation (ILO), once again underlining the level of satis- faction among ISO's customers. Industry ISO tries to understand the strategic issues of key sectors by working closely with indus- try leaders to develop globally relevant International Stand- ards for which there is a clear market requirement. In 2009, for example, the growing part- nership between the food sec- tor and ISO reached another important milestone with ISO's appointment to a new Global Food Safety Initia- tive (GFSI) Advisory Council. ISO Deputy Secretary-General Kevin McKinley, who represents ISO on the Advisory Council explains : "The aim of the Council is to provide context, guidance and further perspectives to GFSI and their Board – advice that can only improve and assist in their decision-mak- ing on global food safety confidence issues. In ISO, we wish to ensure that the needs of ISO members and their stakeholders are considered by this important industry player – and the new GFSI Advisory Council will help us do this through direct communication with food sector leaders and their stakeholders." ISO customer ISO has increas- ingly sought to develop standards that address the functioning of markets within the context of the broader society. As agreed between the two organizations, we pursue complementary activities, each respecting the mandate and compe- tence of the other. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ISO Focus, November/December 2009). Members of the ISO WG SR leadership team pictured at the Québec plenary meeting (from left to right) : Jorge E.R. Cajazeira, Chair ; Kristina Sandberg, Secretary ; Eduardo Campos de São iago, Co-Secretary ; Staffan Söderberg, Vice-Chair, with Sophie Clivio, Technical Programme Manager, ISO Central Secretariat. Photo : Jorge E.R. Cajazeira Kevin McKinley, ISO Deputy Secretary-General. 9 Annual Report 2009

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