In the context of the GRI Standards, the social dimension of sustainability concerns an organization’s impacts on the social systems within which it operates. 

GRI 417 addresses the topic of product and service information and labeling and marketing communications. This includes customer access to accurate and adequate information on the positive and negative economic, environmental, and social impacts of the products and services they consume – both from a product and service labeling and a marketing communications perspective. 

Fair and responsible marketing communications, as well as access to information about the composition of products, and their proper use and disposal, can help customers to make informed choices. These concepts are covered in key instruments of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: see References. 

The disclosures in this Standard can provide information about an organization’s impacts related to product and service labeling and marketing communications, and how it manages these impacts.