‘The International Convention on Sustainable Trade and Standards’ (ICSTS) was convened by the Quality Council of India (QCI) in collaboration with the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). It was held at 17th & 18th September 2018 at the Andaz, New Delhi, India. GOTS was the Supporting Partner to this Convention.
Mr. Sumit Gupta, GOTS Deputy Director Standards Development & Quality Assurance was invited as a panellist in the textile session. The title of the session was ‘Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Sectoral Initiatives and Responsible Sourcing Decisions in Textiles Value Chains”. The session was moderated by Mr. Rene Van Berkel from UNIDO.
Mr. Gupta explained that GOTS is a multistakeholder standard and has a transparent process for standard setting and revision. GOTS actively engages with other standards to avoid double working. He provided the example of social compliance, where GOTS has listed four social standards including SA 8000 in its Implementation Manual.
Mr. Gupta also elucidated how third-party standards, such as GOTS, can help to improve the supply chain interactions. He also referred to the recently released GOTS Factsheet on Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs).
“GOTS is a Consumer Facing label. GOTS certified businesses are able to make sustainability claims that are visible to the end consumer. Consumers can then make informed decisions and can also verify those claims on GOTS website”, concluded Mr. Gupta.
