Credibility Principles Consultation - Brazil Workshop notes

Transcrição

1 Credibility Principles Consultation - Brazil Workshop notes The Credibility Principles workshop consultation in Brazil was a great success. There were approximately people at the workshop and excellent discussions throughout the day. Sectors represented included state and national government, standard setters, certification bodies, capacity builders, NGOs, academia, finance, and business. Meeting overview Roberto Smeraldi, Director, Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, and a member of the international steering committee for the project, opened the meeting by describing the emergence of a new generation of standards and the importance of clearly communicating what is important. He also noted that it s important to consider the adaptive nature of the sustainability standards sector, and to remember that various factors including timing, state of the market and technology available affect the relative credibility of standards systems. The group then heard more about the, and the process so far to develop the draft of the Credibility Principles currently under consultation. Then the group participated in a brainstorming exercise that asked what was important for credibility for them. Each table presented their conclusions. A summary of the points that emerged is provided here as a list that captures the discussion. It does not try to demonstrate consensus or order of importance, and in fact, some contradictions arose. The various tables stated that credible standards systems must: Be usable, and accessible to all types and sizes of participants Be affordable Deliver impacts / Change behaviour Have a standard that is reached based on consensus Standard must be rigorous, focused on the relevant issues (one group noted LCA, another hotspots ) Be simple enough to be easily understood, but detailed enough to recognise the complexity of the subject matter involved. Be written in clear language. Be inclusive invited and affordable participation of stakeholders that are impacted Be transparent, with the caveat that just publishing on the internet is not enough to achieve real transparency. Include transparency about process (e.g. accreditation) Allows for mutual recognition to save time and cost for users Communicate clearly, including information about what is being certified, what the standard considers, and what it does not do

2 Incorporate traceability, and verification of the supply chain when there is a product claim Incorporate accreditation by a government or international agency Have clear, measurable indicators that are auditable Have the ability to innovate, update new concepts Actually deliver what it claims to deliver Have an ideal that it always strives towards there is a need for dynamic standards in relation to the evolution of the state of the art of technology, social demands, business leadership, etc. It was about the evolutionary nature of standards and their role in pioneering trends, therefore the relative and not absolute attributes of them. Operational efficiency so processes have a standard financial model It was recognised that all of the principles are connected, and that strong consistency with one principle may require less reliance on another. Many noted that there should be fewer principles but were unable to identify those that should be removed. Simplicity emerged as a potential new principle, but when discussed further in the afternoon was dismissed as a new principle, though the concept should be included in several others, particularly in standard design. There was a specific question raised about the need for Inmetro to be involved in the accreditation, and some discussion around this. It was agreed that there is an important role for a national standards body, but we shouldn t make a principle that all accreditation is done by a national body. There was then a short panel presentation by representatives from business, government and the consumer movement. Main comments about the Credibility Principles were: that in Brazil we needed to get more input from businesses, and ensure good, diverse participation in general that we must remember to emphasize the importance of accreditation and bring Inmetro, Brazil s national accreditation body, into the conversation that we must be able to communicate to the public about why this is important and seek to co-ordinate with other initiatives. Regarding the process, it was suggested that it would be useful to have more introductory material to ensure a shared common knowledge to allow informed comments on the principles. It was also noted that the process would benefit from holding workshops outside of Sao Paulo because of the different perspectives outside of the capital, noting the challenge posed by communicating with the whole population of such a large country. After lunch the group discussed each principle in detail in small groups. In the report back, most principles were scored as a 10 for importance, though Accuracy, Operational Efficiency, Accountability and Accessibility scored between 7-9. There was a significant discussion about whether the principles could be re-organised, or combined to decrease the total number, but also the recognition that this is very difficult to do. The detail of the comments will be recorded as formal input to the consultation.

3 There was some discussion on the possible overlapping between the principles of "accuracy" and "truthfulness". here was long and intense (but not conclusive) discussion on if/how better grouping the principles that are related to governance (accountability, transparency, operational efficiency, etc.) In all it was a successful workshop with interesting feedback and a good sense of the important elements to Brazilian stakeholders was received.

4 Registrants Organisation Amata Amigos da Terra Amigos da Terra Amazônia Brasileira Associação Igtiba Associação Vida Verde da Amazônia BrainStock - Consultoria Empresarial Ltda BSD Centro de Estudos em Sustentabilidade da FGV Ecossistemas Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária Forest Stewardship Council GBC Brasil IFC Ilanet Imaflora IMO do Brasil Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor Instituto de Estudos do Comércio e Negociações Internacionais Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas Instituto Ethos Instituto LIFE Instituto Vale das Garcas Institutos Ethos Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Minam ONG A Pratiquecologia Organismo Supervisor de las Contrataciones del Estado - OSCE Rabobank Reporter Brasil Sabesp Santander São Paulo School of Business Administration of Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV - EAESP) Name Alan Rigolo Kemel Kalif Roberto Smeraldi Letycia Janot Barbara Schmal Almir José Meireles Beat Gruninger Lígia Ramos Mariana Grimaldi Geraldo Stachetti Rodrigues Fabiola Zerbini Felipe Faria Deborah Batista Gregorio Bittar Ivanoff Mauricio Voivodic Daniel Schuppli Carlos Thadeu Paula Moura Claudio Padua Caio Magri Anke Manuela Salzmann Sergio Teruel Betina Sarue Amy Jackson Karin Kreider Marcus Nyman Norma Tregurtha Laurent Viguie Vilma Morales Fernando Villalba Denise Roman Bambaren Daniela Mariuzzo Leonardo Sakamoto Luiz Roberto Christopher Wells Thiago Hector Uehara

5 Sao Paulo State Sextante Ltda Suzano TNC Universidade Luterana do Brasil / Cenro Università rio Luterano de Palmas University of São Paulo USP Utz Certified Denize Coelho Cavalcanti Guilherme Witte Lineu Siqueira Ana Cristina Barros Fernando Vieira Machado Gabriele Salvo Pedro Jacobi Eduardo Sampaio Ana Cristina Silva Laura Valente de Macedo Nicole Gobeth Di Martino