RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL REACHES 400 MEMBER MARK

ANNOUNCES TRANSLATION OF ITS CERTIFICATION SYSTEM DOCUMENTS IN CHINESE, FRENCH, GUJARATI, ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH

LONDON – The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) today announced that its membership has exceeded 400 companies and trade associations, large and small, throughout the diamond, gold and platinum metals jewellery supply chain, from around the world.

“RJC’s healthy membership numbers in all parts of the supply chain reflect the growing awareness of the importance of ethical, human rights, social and environmental performance in the jewellery industry. With more than 200 Certified Members, RJC has passed the tipping point, such that more than half of RJC’s Commercial Members are now certified. RJC’s members have demonstrated they are willing to achieve RJC Certification with great dispatch. This demonstrated commitment has helped support Membership growth,” says Michael Rae, RJC’s Chief Executive Officer.

Under the RJC system, all Commercial Members of the RJC have committed to be audited by accredited, third party auditors to verify their conformance with the RJC’s Code of Practices and become certified within two years of joining the Council.

“With such a strong membership growth reflected across the supply chain and geographically in over 30 countries, we are translating the RJC Code of Practices and supporting documents into different languages. French, Italian, Spanish, Gujarati, Chinese (simplified) and Portuguese translations are being released today and are available on the RJC website. We hope this will further support Membership growth and uptake of the Code of Practices in important regions in Europe, India and China,” says Mr. Rae.

About RJC

The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit organisation bringing together more than 400 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. For more information on RJC Members, Certification, and Standards please visit www.responsiblejewellery.com