Public Comment Sought for Vanguard Enhanced Social Standard

The Vanguard Enhanced Social Standard (ESS) Issue 1.0 is available for public comment, the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) announced on June 29. The 60-day public comment period ends on August 27.

The Enhanced Social Standard is a GSA Vanguard standard developed to be used by seafood processing facilities for a more in-depth social audit. An ESS audit is conducted independently by an experienced social auditor who is registered with the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA). A facility is eligible to be assessed and certified to the ESS during, or after, application for the Seafood Processing Standard (SPS) Issue 6.0.

All comments received during the public comment period are carefully considered for inclusion in the final drafts. All properly submitted comments and GSA’s response will be public, however, the author will be anonymous. A draft of the ESS can be found on the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) website here and the Best Seafood Practices (BSP) website here.

To comment, download the Vanguard ESS Public Comment form here and submit the form to GSA Standards Coordinator David Dietz at David.Dietz@globalseafood.org.