In response to the 2021 London Declaration, formally signed at ISO Week in September 2021, changes have been made to clauses in the International Standardization Organization (ISO) Harmonized Structure (HS) for management system standards (MSS).

Passed by ballot on June 16, 2023, ISO's HS has updated clauses 4.1 and 4.2 as follows:

4.1 Understanding the organization and its context:

The organization shall determine external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended result(s) of its XXX management system.

Adding: "The organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue."

4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties

The organization shall determine:

  • The interested parties that are relevant to the XXX management system
  • The relevant requirements of these interested parties
  • Which of these requirements will be addressed through the XXX management system

Adding: "NOTE: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change."

These changes were proposed as a result of the 2021 London Declaration, which emphasized ISO's commitment to addressing climate change in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

ISO's Joint Technical Coordination Group (JTCG) addressed concerns about the potential ramifications of the new requirement in Clause 4.1. It explained that the requirement serves as a reminder for organizations to consider climate change as part of their context, without mandating specific environmental actions. The auditable point is the evidence that climate change was considered as a potential issue that could impact an organization's ability to achieve its management system's intended results. The second addition in Clause 4.2 emphasizes that interested parties may have requirements related to climate change.

With the approval of these changes to the HS, most MSS that contain requirements against which an organization can claim conformance, such as ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental), ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety), ISO 50001 (energy), ISO/IEC 27001 (information security), etc., will be automatically amended to address the changes related to climate change in next version.

The JTCG will work with ISO/ Central Secretariat (CS) to define the most effective way to implement these changes. Communication with members and the technical community, as well as collaboration with the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), are also planned for the ongoing development of these MSSs.

For further information, please contact:

Jason Hulbert
Associate Marketing Manager
Knowledge
t: +44 7912426878

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SGS SA published this content on 02 January 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 02 January 2024 06:35:33 UTC.