Case study: How Italpreziosi promotes transparency across its supply chain

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019 Sustainability Report Italpreziosi identified a range of material issues, such as ethics and integrity, economic value generated and distributed, product safety, promoting local development, water consumption. Among these, promoting transparency across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for Italpreziosi.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards                                                    

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Italpreziosi engages with:

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Italpreziosi carried out a survey which involved all its stakeholders, to identify and concretise common objectives.

What actions were taken by Italpreziosi to promote transparency across its supply chain?

In its 2019 Sustainability Report Italpreziosi reports that it took the following actions for promoting transparency across its supply chain:

• Adhering to voluntary standards
• In addition to following the main international and national regulations, Italpreziosi adheres to voluntary standards, demonstrated through its own certifications. These certifications are issued by associations that represent an important round table to address the crucial issues affecting the entire supply chain of precious metals, from their extraction up to their use in finished products. The voluntary reference standards originate from:
  • Chain of Custody (CoC) and Code of Practice (CoP) of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)
  • Responsible Guidances on Precious Metals of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)
  • Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chain of Minerals from Conflict Affected and High Risk Areas of the OECD
  • the World Gold Council “Conflict-free Gold Standard”
  • CRAFT Code of Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM)

• Participating in professional associations
• Italpreziosi is a member of:
  • RESPONSIBLE JEWELLERY COUNCIL (RJC): The association brings together over 500 of the most important companies in the world representing the entire gold chain, from mines to large jewellery manufacturers such as Cartier, Bulgari, Tiffany etc., of which Ivana Ciabatti was also a member of the Board of Directors. In 2013, Italpreziosi received the Code of Practices (CoP) and the “Provenance Claim” certification and in 2017, the Chain of Custody (CoC) certification.
  • LONDON BULLION MARKET ASSOCIATION (LBMA): On September 1st 2008, Italpreziosi became Associate Member of the LBMA and, since 2018, it has been a “Good Delivery” certified refinery. Worldwide, only 69 refineries are certified. The association defines the gold bar production standards, promoting best commercial practices. LBMA represents the reference standard of the world OTC (Over The Counter) precious metals markets.
• Additionally, in 2019 Italpreziosi joined the Program Advisory Group (PAG) of the GEF Gold project (which stands for “Global Opportunities for Long Term Development in Artisanal and Small Scale Mining Programme”), promoted by Planet Gold. The project includes multistakeholders, including International Organisations such as OECD, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, specialised associations, the private and public sector, governments and authorities. The project also involves eight countries with a high percentage of artisanal miners who in many cases, for disinformation and lack of support, process gold with chemicals that are extremely dangerous for their health and for the environment that surrounds them, i.e. mercury. In line with the Minamata Convention, the project aims to train and help these communities to avoid the use of mercury by replacing it with better techniques. In addition, formalisation processes will also be supported, which will allow access to the legal market and improve their living conditions.

• Applying a supply chain policy, a Code of Ethics, a grievance and whistleblowing policy
• Italpreziosi’s solid managerial structure has been designed to meet the highest standards of compliance with national and international laws and regulations, as well as the standards that Italpreziosi voluntarily follows. The goal is to actively work towards the creation of a more sustainable, responsible and fair supply chain towards each individual actor who is part of it. Fair working conditions, prohibition of child labour, gender equality and respect for human rights are fundamental foundations of Italpreziosi’s due diligence processes, expressed in its policies. Italpreziosi’s policies therefore represent a fundamental document for every business relationship, and Italpreziosi asks each counterparty to sign them, so that they morally commit to carrying out Italpreziosi’s own values of respect for the environment, human rights and communities. Each stakeholder must, accordingly, actively work in line with Italpreziosi’s Italpreziosi’s staff are also constantly updated on internal compliance procedures, which are progressive and aim to continuously improve, in line with industry standards. The collaboration between the various departments is constantly valued, as a fundamental tool to guarantee continuous monitoring for each potential and already active counterpart. Italpreziosi’s awareness of each of its counterparts is also constant in adhering to and applying the same standards that Italpreziosi has followed, to contribute to creating greater awareness of the possibilities Italpreziosi has to concretely improve its supply chain.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 408-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor

2) Disclosure 409-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor

3) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

Disclosure 408-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.7
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
• Targets: 16.2

Disclosure 409-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.7

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
• Targets: 5.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.8
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
• Targets: 16.1

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

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References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Italpreziosi, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

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