Update and Next Steps: Second Public Consultation on Label Catalogue

Sarah Gädig • April 2021

Update And Next Steps Second Public Consultation On Label Catalogue

On Friday, 9th of April, we closed the official second public consultation process around the label catalogue. By running the consultation, we wanted to further shape the criteria and catalogue with all interested stakeholders. Digital Trust cannot be defined by one stakeholder alone, but is a collaborative and ongoing task.

We offered two ways for providing feedback:

  1. Via the “Lunch & Label” workshop we conducted on the 30th of March with civil society organisations and interested people
  2. Via feedback in form of comments in the label catalogue document directly

We would like to take this moment to thank all contributors for having taken the time to provide us with your valuable feedback.

In general, the feedback we received around the catalogue and Label framework was positive. However, we also received challenging questions and feedback. Below you find a summary of the most relevant feedback and inputs we have received.

Excerpt of feedback and inputs:

  • Questions around the Label award process, such as: Is there a minimum score that needs to be achieved across all categories? Can one strong category make up for a weak performance in another?
  • The request for a “glossary” around the Label catalogue to provide context and clarify on generic, free interpretable statements like: What do “state of the art” and “best practices” mean?—> The glossary will be constructed once the label criteria are finalised. We are expecting to start working on the glossary in June.
  • Suggestions around a “stress test” to truly test the performance of the criteria. For example, taking a “polarising” company to test whether they would get the label with the current set of criteria—> This question will be discussed among the Label Expert Committee.
  • Criteria focus. The Label is trying to combine multiple areas which may lack a clear value proposition. Also, the label could consist of more criteria that goes beyond legislation of e.g., ISO, GDPR … to set a true benchmark for companies—> This question will be discussed among the Label Expert Committee who will formulate a recommendation to pass on to the SDI Board. Work in progress.
  • Definition and classification of “Digital Services”: Need to clearly define what digital services mean. The Label would only make sense for digital services, which use sensible data.

Next Steps:

  1. All Label catalogue feedback will be consolidated and passed on to the Label Expert Committee (LEC). The LEC will decide which suggestions to accept or reject and provide context as to why a certain decision was made.
  2. Depending on the nature of feedback, for example, strategic questions, the LEC will formulate recommendations and passes them on to the SDI Board who will make the final decision.
  3. As soon as this step is finalized, SDI will work together with its partner SGS to finalize the Standard Operating Procedure and Label Catalogue.

Next update planned for end of May:

We are aiming to provide an in-depth news update in form of a report, with the key findings and decisions from the second public consultation process, latest by end of May.

Defining Digital Trust is an ongoing collaborative task:

As soon as we will have a final “good to go” version of the Label catalogue, we want to launch it as a first version. Yet, the work on “Digital Trust” and the Label Catalogue is an ongoing process. Although the official consultation process is closed, you can still provide your feedback on the catalogue or the general work around the label via email to sarah@sdi-foundation.org.

You find the label criteria catalogue as well as all results from the development process published on our website here.