Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC): The Legal Nature of the Standard

The standards of the Responsible Jewellery Council are not regulated by any provision of Turkish law. Neither Law No. 1567 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency (1567 sayılı Türk Parasının Kıymetini Koruma Hakkında Kanun), nor Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency (32 sayılı Karar), nor the legislation on precious metals and stones refers to these standards. Membership and certification are voluntary. In practice, however, the standard becomes binding: through the clause the buyer inserts in the supply contract.

The Council is a standard-setting and certification organisation established in 2005. Its legal identity is Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 05449042. It has more than 2,000 member companies in 74 countries, drawn from every link in the chain from mine to retail. It publishes three standards: the Code of Practices (COP), the Chain of Custody (COC) and the Laboratory-Grown Materials Standard (LGMS).

What Is the Legal Nature of the Standard?

What is at stake is a private regulation. Its source is not a law or an administrative act, but rules laid down by a legal person governed by private law of its own will. It therefore does not create obligations in the public-law sense; the obligation it creates is the one the member assumes towards the organisation and towards its contractual counterparty.

The Council states this expressly in its own documents. The Member Certification Handbook declares that its text does not create any legally enforceable obligation or right against the organisation or its members. The same handbook states that the standard does not change, replace or conflict with the requirements of any national or local legislation.

There is a third caveat, and it is the point most often misunderstood in practice: the organisation gives no undertaking that conformity with the standard will result in compliance (uyum) with the law in force. In the handbook's own words, a certification audit is not a legal compliance audit. The auditor examines the processes and management systems that correspond to the standard; compliance with foreign exchange, anti-money laundering, customs and tax obligations is not the subject of the audit.

How Does Binding Force Arise?

The obligation arises not from the standard itself but from the contract. The certification clause that chain brands and corporate buyers insert in their supply contracts becomes a contractual obligation as soon as it is accepted. From that point on, non-conformity is not an administrative irregularity but a breach of contract.

The transfer mechanism is also clear. A buyer established in the European Union asks its supply chain for documents in order to fulfil its own sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations. The buyer's obligation under public law is turned, by way of contract, into the supplier's obligation under private law. For the Turkish supplier, the source is not a public norm but a contractual undertaking.

Which Public Obligations Does It Intersect With?

Some provisions of the standard turn obligations that already exist in Turkish law into a contractual undertaking. This intersection determines how compliance work is designed.

COP 30 requires compliance with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in the rough diamond trade, as transposed into the legislation of the country of operation. For Türkiye, this legislation is the Decision on the Regulation and Supervision of Foreign Trade in Rough Diamonds. The same provision also requires adoption of the World Diamond Council System of Warranties; this has no counterpart in Turkish legislation and is a purely contractual addition.

COP 12 concerns knowing the counterparty and preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Those who buy and sell precious metals, stones or jewellery, and those who act as intermediaries in these transactions, are already obliged parties (yükümlü) under Law No. 5549 and the Regulation on Measures (Tedbirler Yönetmeliği). COP 7 requires due diligence in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance when sourcing from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA); this guidance has entered Turkish practice through Borsa İstanbul regulations. COP 29 concerns product disclosure; it intersects with liability for defects, the rules on commercial advertising and the provision of the Regulation on the Jewellery Trade on the disclosure of synthetic stones.

What Is the Standard's Own Basis?

This is decisive for understanding the nature of the standard. The due diligence the organisation applies to membership applications is, by its own account, based on customer due diligence (müşterinin tanınması) and anti-money laundering obligations under English law. The due diligence covers the applicant company, all parent companies up to the ultimate parent, the ultimate beneficial owners, the group companies within scope, and the directors of those companies and their shareholders holding 20% or more.

The standard is therefore not a purely voluntary initiative. It is the transmission along the chain, by means of private-law contracts, of a public norm — the anti-money laundering regime of a foreign legal order. In addition to Turkish legislation, the Turkish member is in fact also meeting the requirements of a foreign regime.

What Is the Sanction, and Is Recourse to the Courts Available?

The sanction is not a public sanction. It takes the form of narrowing the scope of the certificate, suspending, withdrawing or terminating it, or the administrative suspension or termination of membership. In the event of a critical breach, the existing certificate is suspended and the member's profile page with the organisation is temporarily closed.

Members and audit firms agree to be subject to the organisation's complaints mechanism and to be bound by the decisions made. However, the organisation's Complaints Mechanism contains an express caveat: the complaints procedure does not replace or limit legal remedies. Therefore, in a dispute based on the contract, the Turkish courts or, where agreed, arbitration remain available.

What Is the Position in Türkiye?

An institutional step has been taken at sector level: the Jewelry Exporters' Association joined the organisation in 2024 as a trade association member. Association membership does not create a certification obligation for member firms; it involves the association's undertaking to inform its own members and to protect the organisation's intellectual property rights.

At firm level, membership depends on each company's own application. The list of certified members and the scope of their certificates are published in the member directory on the organisation's website; this directory is also the way to verify a supplier's certificate.

What Should Be Done?

• Do not read the standard as a public obligation; treat it as a voluntary private standard and proceed on the basis that its binding force arises from the contract.
• Note that a certification audit is not a legal compliance audit; handle foreign exchange, anti-money laundering and customs compliance as a separate workstream.
• Before signing the certification clause the buyer inserts in the supply contract, determine its scope, its duration and the consequences of breach.
• Identify the overlap between COP 30 and the rough diamond regime, and between COP 12 and anti-money laundering obligations; do not do the same work twice.
• Record separately any undertakings that have no counterpart in Turkish legislation, such as the World Diamond Council System of Warranties.
• Set out in advance, in the contract, the consequences that will follow if the certificate is suspended or withdrawn.
• Do not overlook that the complaints mechanism does not close the route to the courts, and that a dispute resolution clause must be set up separately in the contract.

Warning. The information in this article is for general information purposes and does not constitute a legal opinion. Foreign exchange and precious metals legislation is a frequently changing area; the amounts, rates, thresholds, time limits and dates in this article may change in line with the legislation in force. Verify the latest version of the legislation before every application and transaction. Current texts are available at mevzuat.gov.tr.

Source: RJC Code of Practices Standard, December 2024 (COP 7, COP 12, COP 29, COP 30) · RJC Member Certification Handbook v1.0, February 2025 (§ 1 Disclaimer, § 3.2, § 5.3) · RJC Complaints Mechanism, 2025 (A.1) · RJC Due Diligence Checklist 2026 (§ 03) · Law No. 1567 · Decree No. 32 · Decision on the Regulation and Supervision of Foreign Trade in Rough Diamonds (Official Gazette of 31 October 2006, No. 26332) · Law No. 5549 · Regulation on Measures Regarding the Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime and Financing of Terrorism

Related page: Jewellers, Jewellery and Precious Stones