FAO Guidelines for Ecolabelling in Wild-Capture Fisheries - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 75

Further, there was broad consensus on the need to engage all interested parties in
the standard-setting process in a consultative and participatory manner. A number
of governments and industry groups felt that the MSC process did not accomplish
this requirement in its initial phase.
Options for governance structures
The guidelines are not overly prescriptive on other aspects of the governance struc-
ture beyond the above-noted separation between ownership and accreditation func-
tions. This allows for ecolabelling schemes to be established by a government, an
intergovernmental organisation, a non-governmental organisation or a private in-
dustry association. There are also various options for the geographical range of a
scheme - national, regional or international in scope (paragraph 37).
Guidelines for the setting of standards for sustainable fisheries
The setting of standards is among the most critical tasks of any ecolabelling scheme.
The standards reflect the objectives for sustainable fisheries that are being pursued
through the scheme. Standards comprise quantitative and qualitative indicators of
the governance system or management regime of a fishery as well as of its outcome
in terms of sustainable fisheries and conservation of marine fishery resources and
related ecosystems (paragraph 40).
The principal normative basis for the procedural requirements in standard setting
are given by the WTO TBT, ANNEX 3 Code of Good Practice for the Preparation,
Adoption and Application of Standards and the ISO/IEC Guide 59 Code of Good
Practice for Standardization of 1994. More recent work in this area has been done
by the ISEAL Alliance which published in early 2006 the final version of a Code of
Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards (isealalliance.org).
At the core of standard-setting norms are the ideas of consultation and participa-
tion of interested parties in a transparent and well-informed process of standard
setting that provides for appropriate notification and minimum time periods for
commenting.
The functions of a standard-setting organisation or arrangement include the set-
ting, reviewing, revising, assessing, verifying and approving of standards. Where
there is no specialised body, the organisational structure of a standard-setting ar-
rangement should include, inter alia, a technical committee of independent experts
and a consultation forum whose mandates are well established (paragraphs 44 and
45).
The guidelines explicitly identify the various interested parties that ideally should
participate in the development of standards of sustainable fisheries. These include
representatives of fisheries management authorities, the fishing industry, fishers'
organisations, the scientific community, environmental interest groups, fish pro-
cessors, traders and retailers as well as consumer associations (paragraph 54). The