RJC Seeks Public Comment on Chain-Of-Custody Certification

140 95 Rapaport News

Press Release: The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) today released its third discussion papers on Chain-of-Custody Certification for public comment. The public comment period is open for all stakeholders until August 22, 2011.

“The jewelry industry understands the importance of being able to substantiate claims to customers about the chain-of-custody, or provenance, of jewelry. These discussion papers respond to the many valuable contributions made by jewelry industry and non-industry stakeholders to the second round of consultation on the proposed Chain-of-Custody Standard, which was held between September 2010 and February 2011,” said Michael Rae, RJC’s chief executive.

“The purpose of these discussion papers is to seek feedback on the RJC’s proposed Chain-of-Custody Certification for diamonds, gold and platinum group metals. The RJC again welcomes input, from within and outside the industry, on how our proposal could be further improved and is providing a 60-day public comment period for stakeholder review and feedback. The RJC hopes to launch Chain-of-Custody Certification in early 2012,” said Rae.

The RJC’s mission is to promote responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices throughout the jewelry supply chain. The proposed RJC Chain-of-Custody Certification system aims to enable businesses to demonstrate rigorous assurance for responsible, conflict-free supply chains for diamonds, gold and platinum metals.

Businesses wishing to become RJC certified would be audited by RJC-accredited, independent, third party auditors. RJC Member Certification, launched in 2009, provides assurance about responsible business practices at the level of the business.

The new RJC Chain-of-Custody Certification would be against a separate standard that would also be applied at the level of the business or specific parts of the business, and would cover the transfers of responsibly-sourced diamond, gold and platinum metals to other businesses. RJC Member Certification, combined with RJC Chain-of-Custody Certification, would thereby enable claims to be made about responsible supply chains.

The latest draft of the standard in the third discussion papers has been revised to more directly address the proposed rules for implementation of Section 1502 of the United States’ Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While for certification purposes, RJC’s Chain-of-Custody standard requires RJC membership, the published standard could also be used by non-RJC members as tools for establishing robust chain-of-custody systems for disclosure or reporting purposes.

Further, the availability of chain-of-custody diamonds, gold and platinum metals from certified companies would provide third-party assurance to any buyer interested in responsible sourcing. The current comment period is part of an open and transparent, multi-stakeholder standards development process. The standards development process is overseen by the RJC Standards Committee, which is comprised of representatives of RJC members drawn from across the jewelry supply chain from mine to retail. The RJC Standards Committee works in consultation with a Standards Consultative Panel that was established in June 2010.

Participants in the Consultative Panel include leading non-government organizations, standards/supply chain associations, research institutions, and companies that operate product tracking systems.

Links:

Download Chain-of-Custody Papers
http://www.responsiblejewellery.com/chain-of-custody.html

For more information on:

·Standards Development:
http://www.responsiblejewellery.com/standards.html

· Standards Committee:
http://www.responsiblejewellery.com/RJC%20Standards%20Committee%20June2011.pdf

· RJC Consultative Panel:
http://www.responsiblejewellery.com/RJC%20Standards%20Consultative%20Panel%20June2011.pdf

About RJC 
The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit organisation bringing together more than 310 member companies committed to promoting responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the jewellery industry from mine to retail. Their commitment aims to reinforce consumer and stakeholder confidence in diamond, gold and platinum metals jewellery products. The Council has developed the RJC Member Certification system which applies to all Members’ businesses that contribute to the diamond, gold and platinum metals jewellery supply chain. All Commercial Members of the RJC are required to be audited by accredited, third party auditors to verify their conformance with the RJC’s Code of Practices and become certified under the RJC System. For more information please visit www.responsiblejewellery.com

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