New Council Aiming To Promote Responsible Business Practices
July 05, 05
Companies from across the diamond and gold jewelry business have come together to form the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices (CRJP), aimed at promoting responsible business practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the industry.
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The not-for-profit organization has 14 founding members from different parts of the supply chain, from mine to retail.
Council members believe that a coordinated worldwide approach to addressing ethical, social and environmental challenges will drive continuous improvement throughout the jewelry industry to the benefit of industry stakeholders everywhere as well as maintaining and promoting consumer confidence in the industry.
Enabling the industry to work together to improve standards and practices, the Council also aims to reduce duplication of efforts.
The Council will develop a “Responsible Practices Framework”, in consultation with key stakeholder groups, to define the ethical, social and environmental standards to which all members commit to conduct their businesses.
According to Terry Janes and Dr Martin Leake of BHP Billiton, several companies already have a code of conduct, and the ideas is to “collapse them into one and create a unified code.”
A condition of membership will be that members apply the “Responsible Practices Framework” through an implementation process that will include self assessments, and that is evidenced through a system of independent third party monitoring.
The Council will work with industry participants to advise on business responsibility issues as they arise and offer guidance on the use of the “Responsible Practices Framework” to implement responsible business practices.
I will aim to promote awareness and understanding of key ethical, social and environmental business responsibility issues by working with all stakeholders including (but not limited to) industry participants, trade organizations, governments and civil society representatives.
It will act as an advocate for business responsibility within the industry and develop initiatives to address ethical, social and environmental challenges through publicly and privately financed projects.
The Council is starting a consultation process and will consult widely with stakeholders interested in ethical, social and environmental issues within the diamond and gold jewelry supply chain to seek feedback on its activities, the draft Principles and the development of an implementation process.
One of the persons involved in the new initiative, Rosy Blue’s CEO Dilip Mehta, said: “It is an ambitious but eminently sensible effort. We, at Rosy Blue, recognize our responsibility to the consumers, our business partners and ourselves in promoting and implementing responsible business practices.”