Standards Development & Harmonisation
Code of Practices Review 2012/2013
The 2013 Code of Practices has now been published.
The RJC Standards Committee agreed the final revisions to the RJC Code of Practices, Standards Guidance and Assessment Manual on September 12, as the culmination of an 18 month multi-stakeholder consensus-building process. The revisions were reviewed by the RJC Executive Committee at its meeting on October 9 and are now with the RJC Board for formal approval, anticipated on November 12.
The objectives of the Review were to update the Code of Practices, as well as its supporting documents and training. RJC has logged issues and comments received since the publication of the Code of Practices in 2009 and has worked with a wide range of stakeholders on key issues for the standards revision.
Below is an archive of the revision process. Please email consultation@responsiblejewellery.com with any questions you may have.
Revision Process
This comment period is now closed.
The comment period is to invite input from all interested parties on the proposed process, scope and timelines for the review of the COP standard. These are outlined in the Public Summary document.
During January and February 2013 the RJC conducted consultation workshops in London, Geneva, Antwerp, New York, Mumbai and Surat to discuss the proposed revisions to the code and to seek feedback.
This comment period is now closed.
This comment period is to invite input on the proposed changes to the COP standard from all interested parties. These are outlined in the Proposed Changes document.
Comment Period 2 sought stakeholder feedback on the proposed Draft Revisions to the COP, available below, during a 12 week public comment period.
The draft revisions have been developed from:
- Stakeholder comments on a proposed scope for the COP review;
- Review of parallel standards and initiatives;
- RJC’s log of comments and questions from the past 3 years of implementation;
- RJC Standards Committee discussions on a number of key topics.
Downloads:
This comment period is now closed.
Comment Period 3 sought feedback on the final draft of the proposed revisions to the RJC Code of Practices and the accompanying redrafted Standards Guidance, for an 8 week comment period.
The proposed revisions to these documents have been developed from input from the previous round of comment, working with the RJC’s multi-stakeholder Standards Committee.
The Overview of Proposed Revisions document, summarises some of the main changes proposed to the COP. It shows the proposed restructure grouping the COP provisions into the 6 sections below, and how this correlates to the current COP structure:
- General Requirements
- Responsible Supply Chains and Human Rights
- Labour Rights and Working Conditions
- Health, Safety and Environment
- Diamonds, Gold and Platinum Group
- Metals Products
- Responsible Mining Sector
The RJC Code of Practices – Final Draft Revision May2013 document, contains the proposed new RJC Code of Practices, with comments explaining the major changes since Comment Period 2.
Downloads:
FAQs
Key topics for review are outlined in the Public Summary document. There will be some changes to the provisions/requirements within the COP, other changes will be to the guidance document only. An update of the COP’s harmonisation with other relevant standards will also be carried out.
Oversight of the review and decision-making lies with the multi-stakeholder Standards Committee. The consultation process includes at least two public comment periods in addition to targeted outreach to specific stakeholder groups. See the Public Summary for more information.
Please continue with your plans. Certification against the revised COP will not be possible until it has been approved and finalised. This is anticipated to be at the end of 2018. Once the revised COP is final, there will be an appropriate phase-in period to allow members to transition to the new version of the standard. The details pertaining to the phase-in period will be communicated to members in due course.
If you wish to request a hard copy of a 2013 COP document please send your request to: consultation@responsiblejewellery.com. Please note that there will be reasonable administrative cost involved in having hard copies produced. The hard copies documents will only be available in English.
For further information please see the top of this page to review the 3 rounds of consultation conducted.
As a full member of ISEAL alliance we follow their setting social and environmental standards code V.6.0. This requires the RJC to conduct a full review of the standard every 5 years, or sooner. There currently is not a set date for the next revision of the Code of Practice standard, however this will be conducted no later than 2018. When a revision is required a notification will be made on the standards development section of the RJC website.
