RJC 2024 COP Standard: What Changed From 2019
RJC's 2024 Code of Practices (COP) standard was approved by the RJC Board on 19 November 2024 and applies from its date of publication. It replaces the 2019 version and adds new or expanded requirements across six areas: greenhouse gas emissions, water and natural capital, diversity, equity and inclusion, claims, grievance mechanisms, and several mining-related provisions covering community health and safety and cultural heritage. If you're already RJC certified or preparing for certification, this article breaks down what actually changed, what it means for your current certificate, and where the new requirements are likely to add real work.
RJC (the Responsible Jewellery Council) is the certification body that sets ethical, human rights, social and environmental standards across the jewellery and watch supply chain, from mining through to retail. The Code of Practices is the standard that RJC commercial members are audited against, and COP certification is compulsory for all members within two years of joining.
What is the RJC Code of Practices?
The COP is made up of 45 provisions, organised under six broad objectives: General Requirements, Responsible Supply Chains and Human Rights, Labour Rights and Working Conditions, Health, Safety and Environment, Gold, Silver, PGM, Diamond and Coloured Gemstone Products, and Responsible Mining and Mineral Processing. Certification is assessed at the company level, covering every facility a member owns or controls that contributes to the gold, silver, PGM, diamond or coloured gemstone jewellery and watch supply chain, rather than facility by facility.
The first COP was adopted by the RJC Board in 2008, expanded in 2009 to add mining-specific standards, revised in 2013, and reviewed again in 2019 to align more closely with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. The 2024 version is the next formal revision after 2019, and it's the one members are now being certified and recertified against.
How the 2024 revision was developed
RJC describes the 2024 COP as the outcome of a formal revision process that went through three rounds of public and multi-disciplinary stakeholder consultation, in line with the ISEAL Standard Setting Code of Good Practice and RJC's own Standards Setting Procedure, along with several rounds of review by the multi-stakeholder RJC Standards Committee. That committee work is part of why this revision touches areas, like diversity and inclusion or claims management, that weren't previously covered in as much depth.
What actually changed in the 2024 COP
According to RJC's own summary of the revision, the 2024 standard "includes new and significant changes to the 2019 COP standard including topics such as greenhouse gas emissions, water and natural capital, diversity, equity and inclusion, claims, grievance mechanisms, and a number of mining related provisions including community health and safety and cultural heritage." Here's what each of those means in the current standard.
Greenhouse gas emissions and energy (COP 27.4–27.6)
All members must now annually quantify and document their scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, along with material energy consumption by source, and document the methodology and assumptions used. Members with significant greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption have additional obligations: a rolling three-year greenhouse gas and energy plan with annual reduction targets, independent third-party verification of emissions, energy usage and targets each year, and annual public reporting of verified scope 1 and scope 2 emissions along with progress against targets. Members with mining or mineral processing operations go further still, including scope 3 emissions where the data is available, using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard or GRI 305 to quantify emissions, and setting reduction targets using a science-based approach consistent with the Paris Agreement.
Water and natural capital (COP 28.2–28.3)
The 2024 standard splits natural resource use into two more detailed areas. Members with significant adverse impacts on water resources need documented water governance, water balance and quality monitoring, stakeholder engagement with water users and rights holders, and annual public reporting on water withdrawal and efficiency. A parallel set of requirements applies to natural capital derived from land and soil: members with significant impacts need land management governance, monitoring of contamination and degradation, engagement with land users and rights holders, and annual public reporting on land and soil management. Both of these go well beyond the general resource-efficiency expectations that applied previously.
Diversity, equity and inclusivity (COP 23)
This is now its own standalone provision. Members need a publicly available, top-management-endorsed policy that promotes diversity, equity and inclusivity across recruitment, professional development, mobility and employment conditions, supported by processes to actually implement it. Members also have to train workers on diversity, equity and inclusivity, and periodically review how well the policy and its supporting systems are working.
Claims (COP 14)
Claims management has been substantially built out. Any member making claims about RJC membership, RJC certification, provenance, products, marketing or sustainability now needs management systems that ensure claims are truthful, substantiated by evidence and compliant with applicable law, that staff responsible for the claims are trained and can explain them accurately, and that misleading, untruthful or unverifiable claims are revoked with corrective action taken. Provenance claims specifically must be independently verified during an RJC audit, and any change to an existing provenance claim, or a claim that stops being valid, has to be reported to the certification body and RJC in writing within seven business days.
Grievance mechanisms (COP 2.6)
The requirement for a complaints and grievance mechanism is now considerably more specific. It has to be consistent with internationally recognised human rights standards, easily and publicly accessible, culturally appropriate, unbiased and transparent, and it has to include defined processes to prevent retaliation, train staff on handling grievances respectfully, ensure timely investigation and resolution, preserve confidentiality, and periodically review outcomes to identify corrective actions. This is a meaningfully higher bar than simply having a complaints channel on file.
Mining-related provisions: community health and safety, and cultural heritage
Two new standalone provisions apply to members with mining or mineral processing operations. COP 44 (Community Health and Safety) requires members to identify and assess risks to community health and safety across the operation's life cycle, informed by data from affected communities and health agencies, and to assess risks of worker exposure to communicable infectious disease. COP 45 (Cultural Heritage) requires members to identify and protect tangible and intangible cultural heritage, whether or not it's legally protected, and sets out specific requirements around avoiding damage to critical cultural heritage sites, limiting removal of cultural heritage items, and developing documented management plans where sacred or cultural heritage sites are identified.
What this means if you're already RJC certified
The 2024 version supersedes all previous versions, but RJC has built in a transition period. If your company is already in the certification preparation process, you can still meet your existing planning and certification deadlines. If you're already certified, your current certificate stays valid, and you don't need to get recertified until your current certificate expires. At that point, recertification will be assessed against the 2024 standard.
In practice, this means the changes are most immediately relevant to two groups: companies starting certification for the first time now, who will be assessed against the 2024 requirements from the outset, and companies whose certificates are approaching expiry, who should start reviewing the new provisions well before their next audit rather than waiting for the recertification date to arrive.
Where the new requirements are likely to add real preparation time
Of the areas above, greenhouse gas reporting and the water and natural capital provisions are the ones most likely to require new data collection rather than just new documentation, particularly for members with mining or mineral processing operations who face additional scope 3 and science-based target requirements. Claims management is worth checking even for companies that don't think of themselves as making many claims: provenance statements, marketing language and sustainability messaging on a website or in sales materials can all fall under COP 14, and the requirement to report a change or a lapse in a provenance claim within seven business days is a hard deadline that needs an internal owner. Diversity, equity and inclusivity and the expanded grievance mechanism requirements are more likely to be documentation and policy work for most trading and manufacturing members, rather than requiring new systems built from scratch.
→ See: RJC Certification Requirements: A Preparation Guide
What stays the same
The overall structure of the COP hasn't changed: it's still 45 provisions organised under the same six broad objectives, and certification is still assessed at the company level through documentation review, staff interviews and on-site observation by an accredited third-party auditor. The core requirements around legal compliance, business ethics, human rights due diligence, labour rights, health and safety, and product disclosure are carried forward from the 2019 standard, with the changes above layered on top rather than replacing the existing framework.
When is the next COP review?
RJC has committed to assessing the COP standard for review by 2029, five years after publication of the 2024 version, or earlier if needed. Proposals for revisions or clarifications can be submitted to RJC at any point in the meantime, for consideration in the next formal review.
Check where you stand against the current standard
Whether you're preparing for first-time certification under the 2024 COP or reviewing your systems ahead of recertification, it helps to know where the gaps actually are before an auditor finds them. Our RJC Pre-Audit Readiness Checklist walks through 72 items across three dimensions, whether a policy or process exists, whether it's documented, and whether it's consistently applied, covering the same ground RJC auditors check.
Frequently asked questions
When did the RJC 2024 COP standard take effect?
The 2024 COP was approved by the RJC Board on 19 November 2024 and applies from its date of publication. It supersedes the 2019 version.
Do I need to recertify immediately under the new standard?
No. Existing COP certifications remain valid, and members don't need to recertify until their current certificate expires. Companies already in the certification preparation process can still meet their existing planning and certification deadlines. Recertification, once it happens, is assessed against the 2024 standard.
What are the biggest new requirements in the 2024 COP?
The most significant additions are around greenhouse gas emissions and energy reporting, water and natural capital management, diversity, equity and inclusivity, claims management, grievance mechanisms, and, for mining and mineral processing members, community health and safety and cultural heritage.
Does the 2024 COP apply to all RJC members?
Most of the new provisions apply to all commercial members. Some, including the expanded greenhouse gas, water and natural capital requirements, only introduce their most demanding obligations for members with significant environmental impacts, and the community health and safety and cultural heritage provisions apply specifically to members with mining or mineral processing operations.