The Responsible Jewellery Council is a not-for-profit, standards setting and certification organisation. It has more than 1,000 Member companies that span the jewellery supply chain from mine to retail. RJC Members commit to and are independently audited against the RJC Code of Practices – an international standard on responsible business practices for diamonds, gold and platinum group metals.
Find out more about RJC at - https://www.responsiblejewellery.com/
ISEAL Code Compliant designates members who have successfully undergone independent evaluations against the ISEAL Codes of Good Practice in Standards-Setting, Assurance and Impacts.
The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (‘the ISEAL Code’) v1.0 became effective as of 1 March 2024. There is an 18-month transition period of ISEAL Code Compliant organisations to align their systems to the ISEAL Code.
During the transition period, no independent evaluations against the Standard-Setting, Impacts, or Assurance Codes are conducted, but Code Compliant organisations will engage in compliance activities and are expected to align their systems with the ISEAL Code. Independent evaluations against the scope of the ISEAL Code are anticipated from Q4 2025. Information on the transition period is publicly available on the ISEAL Code of Good Practice revision and integration page.
As a result of this independent evaluation, RJC is in the process of making the following improvements to how they set their standards:
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Updated its standard setting procedure to proactively identify underrepresented groups and proactively seek their contributions into the standards development process
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Developing a harmonisation and cross-recognition requirements for local standards applicability, which will include local standard equivalency.
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Developing communication strategies for public consultation outcomes into the standards development procedure
As a result of this independent evaluation, RJC will make the following improvements to their assurance system:
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Have additional high-level skilled and external oversight of system performance every two years, with a review of a sample of reports / certification decisions taken to ascertain the level of independence, consistency, and accuracy of the assurance process
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Rename the in-house certification audit clearance activities as calibration and further clarify any limitations, the decision-making process for member certification and the establishment of minimum competence requirements for certification personnel who calibrate reports
As a result of this independent evaluation, RJC has made the following improvements to their M&E system:
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Conducted an impact evaluation based on the topic of Gender Equality.
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Revised the Monitoring & Evaluation System Report to ensure the results from M&E activities are routinely used for internal learning and improvement of the scheme’s effectiveness.
ISEAL Code Compliant members provide publicly available reports that give a comprehensive and accessible overview of a member's system.
ISEAL System Overview Responsible Jewellery Council 2022