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CIBJO Leaves CRJP

September 7, 2005

Less than two months after the establishment of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices (CRJP), founding member The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) announced that it was withdrawing its support.

The CRJP was created — ironically, under the impetus of CIBJO — to be an international body that would establish standards for ethical practice for the jewelry industry. Members of the CRJP would agree to follow the council’s standards for issues such as upholding human rights, avoiding criminal activities such as money laundering, practicing environmentally responsible mining, and so on.

In a statement sent to CRJP members, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri said that he objected not to the principles on which the council was founded, but to the operating model that CRJP was preparing to adopt. “The model is restrictive and discriminatory because it imposes on CRJP members a time consuming system of mapping a company and its business partners, self-assessment and reporting, which will demand the training and allocation of staff specifically for this purpose. . . . Any company that cannot afford to undertake such a commitment will automatically be left on the outside.”

Cavalieri went on to describe additional expenses that a business would be required to absorb: not only the cost of CRJP membership, but the cost of monitoring their own company to ensure compliance. “CIBJO, as a representative of the rank and file in the world industry, cannot support a body with a structure and form of operation that unfairly denies entry to the vast majority of our affiliated associations’ members,” he concluded.

Shortly after CIBJO announced its withdrawal, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association issued a joint press release stating that they would not be participating in the CRJP for the same reasons.

The CRJP does not yet have supporting staff or an official spokesperson, but Linda Buckley of Tiffany & Co., one of the CRJP’s founding members, responded on behalf of the organization. “The CRJP is disappointed that CIBJO has chosen to withdraw from participation at this early and critical stage. The Council has been committed from the outset to be inclusive in nature as it seeks to promote responsible business practices throughout the diamond and gold jewelry supply chains, from mine to retail.”

The CRJP has posted its statement of principles and a basic description of its proposed structure on its Web site, www.responsiblejewellery.com. On the site, it states, “The Council will set an achievable required level of conformance at the start of the initiative, with a requirement to demonstrate continuous improvement. In this way, the principles should not be too onerous for small businesses.”

The site has also been revised since the launch of the CRJP to reflect the membership fees. For all commercial members other than financial institutions, the fee is 0.006 percent of annual turnover.

At press time, the CRJP members were scheduled to meet in Antwerp at the beginning of September and present their proposed structure to various non-government organizations (NGOs) with the goal of getting their support for the venture. There was no indication that either the CRJP or CIBJO were planning to join forces again.

July/August 2005 • Style: Detour to Design - Reader's Choice Winner • Style: Silver's Golden Age • Sources: Mining Interrupted • News & Updates • In This Issue