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2018 CIBJO Congress opens in Bogotá, Colombia, to discuss responsible sourcing in jewellery sector

17 october 2018
The 2018 CIBJO Congress, serving as the official venue for the meeting of the CIBJO Assembly of Delegates, opened on October 15 in Bogotá, Colombia, with a strong focus on responsible sourcing in the jewellery industry, says a press note from CIBJO.
The organization introduced Responsible Sourcing Guidance document which will serve as a reference for the jewellery industry and obtain a status of a CIBJO book.  To oversee the process, a Responsible Sourcing Commission was established.
Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President, spoke about the importance of creation a regulating document to control the standards of responsible sourcing in the industry around the world.
“We asked ourselves, would it be possible to create a responsible sourcing protocol that could be universally accepted, which would meet the ethical standards that our industry expects from itself, and at the same time be acceptable from the perspective of the international community,” he said.
Dr. Cavalieri explained that an operating principle of the Responsible Sourcing Guidance document was that it would be inclusive, meaning that there is an expectation that the standards, guidelines and systems that it describes can reasonably be applied by all members of the industry, irrespective of size or financial capacity.
CIBJO’s Responsible Sourcing Guidance is based on the OECD Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, and supports the Kimberley Process and UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights.
Tyler Gillard, head of the OECD Responsible Mineral Supply Chain project, addressing the Opening Session of the 2018 CIBJO Congress, which gathered the members of national jewellery and gemstone associations from more than 40 countries and representatives of many of the industry’s most important commercial bodies, said that OECD should understand the challenges faced by the many smaller and medium-sized bodies in the jewellery industry in instituting its due diligence standards, and especially small-scale and artisanal miners.         

Victoria Quiri, Correspondent of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished, Strasbourg