RJC Becomes Full Member of ISEAL Alliance
June 07, 12
(IDEX Online News) – The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has become a full member of the ISEAL Alliance. ISEAL’s mission is to define good practices for sustainability standards, and to distinguish and promote credible standards.
The membership, which was approved at ISEAL’s board meeting in Bonn, Germany on May 29, recognizes the RJC as having met the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental 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.
“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,” said RJC chairman Matt Runci.
“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.”
RJC’s Code of Practices covers a very wide range of sustainability issues, including human rights and labor 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.