Responsible Jewellery Council updates COP and COC standards
The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has announced updates to its Code of Practices (COP) and Chain of Custody (COC) standards in its 5-year ISEAL mandated review.
The COC standard has been updated to recognise three main types of eligible material for recycled metals: Pre-Consumer, Post Consumer, Waste and a mix of the three.
The RJC COC update also requires enhanced transparency by requiring declarations of the type of material included.
For the COP standard, key topics for 2024 were human rights, climate and environmental requirements, supply chain, diversity and inclusivity.
As a result there are now expanded provisions covering human rights due diligence, grievance mechanisms, supply chain due diligence, claims and greenhouse gas emissions.
There are also significant updates in the COP on inclusivity, diversity, strengthening and environmental requirements and more alignment with emerging standards for across mining and mineral processing entities.
The RJC started the process to update the COC standard in 2022 and in 2021 for the COP standard in line with ISEAL requirements.
During the three years for COP and two years for COC consultation process the RJC received over 1,200 feedback comments from a diverse range of industry and non-industry stakeholders.