A draft international standard designed to help organisations prevent and address modern slavery has entered public consultation.

ISO 37200, Managing the Risk of Modern Slavery aims to provide guidance on preventing, identifying, responding to, mitigating, remediating and reporting modern slavery risks across organisations and their wider operating environments.

The draft builds on the British Standard BS 25700, Organisational Responses to Modern Slavery, published by BSI in 2022, and seeks to extend UK-led guidance on ethical business and responsible governance to a global audience. It is intended to complement existing legal, regulatory and reporting requirements while supporting stronger governance and accountability.

BSI says an estimated 50 million people worldwide live in modern slavery, making exploitation a systemic risk within global supply chains.

ISO 37200 is designed to be generic and flexible, and applicable to organisations of all sizes, from all sectors and in all locations.

Dawn Hunter, head of standards development for sustainability at BSI, said: “Modern slavery is a tragic feature of global supply chains, with millions globally affected by it, and it is vital for all of us to play a part in its eradication. This will be the first international standard dedicated to helping organisations manage modern slavery risk.

"Building on the UK’s landmark guidance on this topic, it brings UK leadership in ethical business to the global stage and provides practical guidance for organisations of all sizes to prevent, identify and respond to modern slavery. The public consultation is a vital opportunity for stakeholders to help shape a standard that addresses real-world risks across global supply chains.”

Resilience specialists are invited to help shape ISO 37200 by visiting https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2023-01842 and submitting comments by 2nd February 2026. Feedback from the consultation will be used to refine the scope, definitions and recommendations of the draft standard before finalisation.

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