Policy: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
A policy (French: politique) states the intentions and direction of an organisation, as formally expressed by its top management. In an ISO 53001 system, the SDG policy frames the objectives, commits to meeting applicable requirements and to improving, and must be communicated internally and made available to interested parties.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
The auditor reads the policy, then checks that it lives beyond the page. Several people are asked what they take from it; the document must be dated and approved, and its content is compared with the SDGs actually being managed.
A text that lists all seventeen SDGs without any ranking, while the organisation manages only three, creates a gap the auditor will point out. Subclause 5.2, titled Policy as in every standard built on the harmonized structure, carries the expectation within clause 5 of the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard.
Policy read alongside objectives
The auditor reads the policy and the objectives side by side. Each objective should fit the direction the policy sets; a commitment in the policy with no objective behind it, such as a pledge on supplier working conditions, is followed up in the interviews.
See also
- Top management: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Top management (French: *direction*) is the person or group of people who direct and control the organisation at the highest level: chief executive, executive committee, board of an association.
- Objective: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)An objective (French: *objectif*) is a result to be achieved, set at a given level and for a given function.
- Leadership: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Leadership (French: *leadership*, the same word) refers, in standards built on the harmonized structure, to the demonstrated involvement of top management in the management system.
- ISO/UNDP 53001 clause 5: what the auditor checksISO 53001 clause 5 deals with leadership.