Thursday, June 7, 2012


RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL ACCEPTED AS FULL MEMBER OF ISEAL ALLIANCE – THE GLOBAL ASSOCIATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS

LONDON – The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has been accepted as a Full Member of the ISEAL Alliance at their Board meeting in Bonn, Germany on May 29, 2012. ISEAL Full Members are a leading group of sustainability standards and accreditation bodies that have demonstrated their ability to meet the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice.

ISEAL’s mission is to define good practices for sustainability standards, and to distinguish and promote credible standards. RJC joins 11 other ISEAL Full Members, including the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, Fairtrade International, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, and UTZ Certified.

Sustainability standards are one of the most innovative tools to transform practices in sectors as diverse as agriculture, fishing, forestry and the jewellery sector. The organisations that have achieved ISEAL membership are among the most credible standards globally due to their adherence to a set of Credibility Principles that form the foundation for ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice. ISEAL’s Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards, with which all full members comply, has become the global reference for high-quality standard-setting.

Since it was established in 2005, RJC has worked in the jewellery supply chain to promote responsible business practices, and has developed and grown a successful certification system for the sector. RJC’s Code of Practices covers a very wide range of sustainability issues, including human rights and labour standards, environmental management, impacts of mining, and business ethics. The Chain-of-Custody standard launched this year extends these concerns into a platform for responsible sourcing for gold and platinum group metals.

“RJC is very proud to have achieved full ISEAL membership, as part of a new generation of standards addressing sectors outside of agriculture with business-relevant approaches. Through our journey to ISEAL full membership, RJC’s multi-stakeholder standards-setting procedures have been found to be credible, robust and transparent. We are now working with other ISEAL members and stakeholders on evaluating our impact and scaling up the use of certification standards as tools for achieving sustainable development,” says Matt Runci, RJC’s Chairman.

“We much welcome the membership of RJC to ISEAL and its commitment to the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice. Inclusion of RJC in ISEAL represents a new and important sector in which credible standards such as those developed by RJC can greatly contribute to sustainable development. Through their full membership in ISEAL, RJC will be able to work with established and emerging standards to coordinate efforts, ensure effectiveness and scale up their social and environmental impacts. We look forward to working closely with them in the years to come,” says Rik Kutsch Lojenga, Board Chair, ISEAL.



About RJC

 The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit organisation bringing together more than 370 member companies. RJC and its Members are 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. This commitment aims to reinforce consumer and stakeholder confidence in diamond, gold and platinum metals jewellery products. The RJC 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 Certified Members of the RJC are audited by accredited, third party auditors to verify their conformance with the RJC’s Code of Practices. A voluntary Chain-of-Custody Standard has also been developed for gold and platinum group metals. The RJC is a Full Member of the ISEAL Alliance – the global association for sustainability standards. 

RJC Standards Committee

The RJC Standards Committee comprises up to 14 elected representatives, 2 from each of the 7 Member Forums, and 12 external stakeholders appointed by the RJC Board. 2012 Standards Committee members are:

Didier Backaert, Bonas & Co
Michele Brülhart, UL Responsible Sourcing
Assheton Carter, PACT
Gemma Cartwright, Fairtrade UK
Charles Chaussepied, Piaget
Laurence Drummond, Metalor Technologies
Stéphane Fischler, International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA)
Mark Gershburg, Gemological Science International
Rob Headley, Jewelers of America
Felix Hruschka, Alliance for Responsible Mining
Jennifer Horning, Solidaridad
Juliane Kippenburg, Human Rights Watch
Patrick Laine, WWF UK
Estelle Levin, International development consultant
Stanley Lurie, Oroafrica
Alan Martin, Partnership Africa Canada
Ngomesia Mayer-Kechom, Diamond Development Initiative International (DDII)
Chikashi Miyamoto, Rosy Blue NV
Steven Oates, Social Accountability International (SAI)
Andrew Parsons, Anglo Gold Ashanti Australia Ltd
Jon Phillips, Corona
Marcelle Shoop, Rio Tinto
Ryan Taylor, The Fair Trade Jewellery Co

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