The international Quality Seal eccos²²® has been developed based on a combination of the international standards and regulations ISO 26000, ISO 14001, ONR 192500 (“ONR” = Rule of the Austrian Standards Institute), SA 8000® (Social Accountability), SR 10 (Social Responsibility), GRI 4 (Global Reporting Initiative), AA 1000 (AccountAbility), OECD Guidelines for Multinationals, UN Global Compact and the EFQM Excellence Model. This means that an internationally renowned tool for assessing ecological and social responsibility of companies has been created, no matter what sector companies are operating in and what the company size is.
eccos²²® provides a quality seal based on international standards and regulations relating to the evidence of sustainable economy and the assessment of the company’s fitness for innovation and for the future by third parties. The aim is, on the one hand, to establish the organization’s positioning on the sustainability-based business management system CSR. On the other hand, a common language to support the networking of systems and applications of the value network is the key factor for productivity and effectivity in the age of Industry 4.0.
These current developments can be seen as follows:
- changed international procurement guidelines and directives for international requests for quotation; these guidelines and directives require a relief of the environment and social value added
- new rules for the financial and investment sectors (e.g. taxonomy regulations)
- circular economy, environmental relief and a holistic approach of the supply chain are of substantial relevance
- orientation according to the guidelines of the new Austrian government programme, the Green Deal of the EU and the Sustainable Development Goals, respectively
- optimizing the “learning organization” as to enhance social innovation, agility and efficiency; motto: “uncoupling growth from resource consumption”
- increasing the acceptance and trust of authorities, investors, banks and public financial donors
- cost and competitive advantage due to the reduction of shadow costs
- working on the company’s unique selling proposition in consideration of environmental and social aspects towards a strategic differentiation
eccos²²® certifies...
- the compliance and respectively the orientation of the corporate management along international principles, guidelines and norms of the worldwide applicable Corporate Social Responsibility Standard ISO 26000
- the continuous advancement of the core strategy, core processes and communication with stakeholders in combination with the sustainability concept of the organization
- the degree of maturity of the system performance and value added by the system under consideration of the international eco.soc Standards
- the impact orientation on the main stakeholders and focus on environmental relief and social added value
As a result, the company is awarded with the first internatioanl quality seal eccos²²® Excellence in Sustainability und Corporate Social Responsibility and furthermore a qualityaustria eccos²²® certificate.
The company can also expect a professional feedback by experts regarding the extent to which quality standards are met in the context of the company‘s overall future sustainability as well as a ONR 192500 certificate.
Usage of eccos²²® is particularly conceived for organizations that want to communicate a well-aimed, more conclusive and more credible strategy relating to the topics of sustainability and corporate social responsibility to the interested parties (customers, suppliers, credit grantors, international partners and non-governmental organizations).
Winners of the Austrian Excellence Award and companies that have already dealt with ways to professionalize their system performance will, at the assessment, be credited the degree of development by being granted points. After the assessment, the International Committee of the CSR Dialogue Forum (Commission), which is made up of representatives of science and investors, will decide upon maintenance of the quality seal and the company’s maturity relating to sustainable economy and corporate social responsibility.
The CSR Dialog Forum is a non-profit organization accredited by the United Nations. The organization understands itself as being non-partisan and non-denominational and acts on an international scale. The organization sees itself as the driving force for a new way of doing business, exerts influence and contributes to a useful social change. The Association has the purpose to promote topics of sustainable economy and corporate responsibility and bringing science and practice together. The Association sees itself as a competence centre for sustainability and corporate responsibility.
