Standards Development & Revisions

Standards Development and Revision Process

The process is based on the GSTC Standard Setting Manual v3.0 , where the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems is used as a reference, and the key aspects are as follows:

• External experts’ engagement in the new Standards development and the Revision of the Standards
• Multiple rounds of Public Consultation to get various stakeholders’ engagement in the process
• Reaching out to disadvantaged groups* to get their input.

* Disadvantaged group: Those who experience discrimination or barriers to equal opportunity. In the GSTC Standards Development process, the Disadvantaged group is defined as those who are under-engaged and under-represented groups due to barriers such as linguistic, geographic, technical, and other difficulties/barriers in participating in the development of a set of GSTC Standards and/or in applying the Standards in their activities. (page 30 Glossary – GSTC Standard Setting Manual v3.0)

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Impact of Revisions on GSTC-Recognized Standards and Certification Bodies

Per the terms of the Recognition, as stated in the Manuals for Recognitions the marks, following the revision of GSTC Standards (formerly known as GSTC Criteria), holders of GSTC-Recognized Standards have two years from the dates of release of the revisions to make any necessary revisions to their standards in order to remain compliant with the GSTC mark. Questions may be addressed to recognition@gstc.org