How Long Does RJC Certification Take? Timeline Guide
RJC certification typically takes six to twelve months from the start of active preparation to certificate issuance, and can run longer for larger or multi-site companies, or shorter for a well-prepared, single-site business with existing management systems in place. How long does RJC certification take in your specific case comes down mainly to how ready your systems are before you start, not to the audit itself. This article breaks down what pushes the timeline up or down, including first-time versus recertification, single-site versus multi-site operations, and the documentation gaps that most often stall an audit.
RJC (the Responsible Jewellery Council) is the certification body that sets standards for ethical, human rights, and environmental practices across the jewellery and gemstone supply chain. Members are audited against either the Code of Practices (COP) or the Chain of Custody (CoC) standard, and the timeline below applies mainly to COP certification, which is the more involved of the two.
How long does RJC certification take, in short?
As a general planning guide: a single-site company with reasonably organised systems can often certify in six to nine months, while a company building policies, supplier data, and traceability records largely from scratch should expect closer to a year, sometimes longer once multiple sites or business units are involved. Recertification is typically the fastest of the three, since the systems, documentation formats, and internal ownership already exist from the previous cycle. These are planning ranges rather than guarantees, since every company's starting point and audit findings differ.
The audit itself, once scheduled, usually takes only a few days on site. Almost all of the variation above comes from what happens before the auditor arrives.
→ See: RJC Certification: What Jewellery and Gemstone Exporters Should Prepare Before They Start
What the certification process actually involves
RJC certification follows a fixed sequence, and knowing where the time actually goes makes the overall estimate easier to plan against.
1. RJC membership
Before certification can start, a company needs to become an RJC member. This is administrative and usually takes a few weeks, but it has to happen before the certification clock effectively starts.
2. Preparation phase
This is where most of the timeline is actually spent. Policies get reviewed and aligned with the standard, supplier and traceability systems get structured, documentation gets organised, and internal responsibilities get assigned to specific people. How this phase goes largely determines how smoothly the audit itself will run.
3. Audit by an accredited body
An independent auditor reviews documentation, interviews staff, and observes operational practices against the RJC standard. The audit itself is usually a few days on site, depending on company size and the number of facilities involved, so it is rarely the part of the process that adds weeks or months.
→ See: RJC Audit: What Jewellery and Gemstone Exporters Often Overlook
4. Corrective actions, if required
If the audit turns up gaps, called nonconformities, the company has to address them before certification is granted. How long this takes depends on the number of findings, how quickly systems can be adjusted, and whether supporting evidence already exists or has to be created after the fact. This step is where first-time certifications most often run past their original estimate.
5. Certification decision
Once the audit and any corrective actions are closed out, certification is issued. RJC certification is valid for a defined cycle, typically three years, with ongoing expectations to maintain systems in between.
First-time certification versus recertification
First-time certification takes longer almost every time, because the company is building policies, traceability records, and internal ownership from a standing start rather than refreshing what already exists. A company going through RJC certification for the first time should expect the fuller end of the range above, and companies with little existing documentation often find the process stretches past a year.
Recertification is usually considerably faster, because the underlying systems, documentation formats, and internal responsibilities are already in place. The exception is when a company let its systems lapse between cycles, treating certification as a one-time project instead of an ongoing practice. In that case recertification can take nearly as long as the original certification, since documentation has to be reconstructed and updated rather than simply reviewed.
Does having multiple sites change the timeline?
Yes, generally. A company certifying a single site with one clear ownership structure moves faster than a group certifying multiple facilities or business units under one RJC membership. Each additional site usually means separate documentation, separate supplier relationships to map, and separate staff to interview, even when policies are shared across the group.
Multi-site certifications generally add meaningful time to the timeline compared with an equivalent single-site company, mostly because coordinating consistent documentation and practices across locations takes longer than getting one site audit-ready. Trading companies with multiple supplier relationships tend to see a similar effect on the supply chain side of preparation, even without multiple physical sites.
What actually drives the timeline
Three factors explain most of the variation between a company that certifies inside six months and one that takes closer to a year.
Internal readiness
Companies with existing management systems tend to move faster, even when those systems were not built with RJC in mind. In many cases the underlying practices already exist, but the documentation proving them is incomplete or scattered across different people and formats. Structuring what already exists is almost always faster than building new practices from scratch.
Supply chain complexity
The more suppliers involved, the more time is needed to organise supplier data, assess sourcing risk, and establish traceability back through the chain. This is often the single longest part of preparation, particularly for trading companies working with a large or shifting supplier base rather than a small, stable one.
Coordination across teams
RJC certification touches procurement, operations, human resources, and management, and aligning these functions takes real time, particularly when nobody owns the project internally. Companies that assign one clear internal lead from the start tend to move through preparation with fewer stalls than companies where responsibility is split or unclear.
Why audits get delayed, and what the data shows
Delays rarely come from the audit itself. They usually come from documentation that needs to be reworked, missing or inconsistent records, gaps identified late in the process, or limited internal availability to coordinate preparation while running the rest of the business. When preparation is rushed, these issues tend to surface during or right after the audit, which is exactly when they are most expensive to fix.
Documentation gaps are not evenly spread across the standard. An audit dataset compiled by International Associates Limited (IA), our certification audit partner, covering 664 active RJC findings across 75 companies certified in Thailand, found that 88 percent of minor nonconformities were concentrated in health and safety documentation, not in supply chain or business ethics requirements. In other words, the area most likely to hold up certification is often not the one companies spend the most time worrying about. Health and safety records, training logs, and incident documentation are worth checking early, well before the audit is scheduled.
What happens after certification
Certification is not a one-time milestone. Companies are expected to maintain their systems, keep records updated, keep practices consistent day to day, and prepare for follow-up audits within the certification cycle. When systems are built only to pass the initial audit, additional work is usually needed later to bring things back into shape for recertification, which is part of why lapsed companies see longer second-time timelines.
How to estimate your own timeline before you start
Before committing to a certification timeline, it helps to know where your company actually stands against the standard. Our RJC Pre-Audit Readiness Checklist walks through 72 items across three dimensions and gives a quick, structured view of how organised your current systems are, where gaps are likely to appear, and roughly how much preparation is still needed. That view makes it far easier to tell whether your realistic timeline is closer to six months or closer to a year, before you commit to a date with an auditor.
Frequently asked questions
How long does RJC certification take for a first-time applicant?
Most first-time applicants complete RJC certification in six to twelve months, depending on how organised their systems and documentation already are. Companies building policies, supplier data, and traceability records largely from scratch tend to land at the longer end, sometimes past a year. The audit itself typically takes only a few days once scheduled; the preparation phase before it is what determines the overall timeline.
Is recertification faster than the first RJC audit?
Yes, recertification is usually considerably faster, because documentation formats, policies, and internal ownership are already established. The exception is when systems lapse between cycles, in which case recertification can take nearly as long as the original certification.
What is the single biggest cause of RJC certification delays?
Documentation gaps are the most common cause of delay, more so than actual gaps in practice. Data from International Associates Limited (IA) covering 664 RJC findings across 75 Thailand-certified companies found that 88 percent of minor nonconformities were in health and safety documentation, making it one of the first areas worth reviewing before an audit.
Does certifying multiple facilities take longer than a single site?
Yes. Multi-site or multi-business-unit certifications generally take longer than an equivalent single-site company, mainly because documentation, supplier relationships, and staff interviews need to be coordinated consistently across each location.