As reflected in our Journey to Sustainable Luxury, Chopard is committed to responsible sourcing throughout its supply chains.
Recognising that risks of significant adverse impacts may be associated with the extracting, trading, handling, and exporting of minerals, in particular when sourcing from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRAs), in 2020-2021 Chopard took one step forward in its Journey to Sustainable Luxury by adopting a Responsible Sourcing Policy and strengthening Chopard management system for due diligence.
Responsible Sourcing Policy
Our Responsible Sourcing Policy and Code of Conduct for Partners are available on Chopard’s Sustainability webpage in the section Responsible Sourcing Programme.
The due diligence system is applicable to all our suppliers of gold, silver, platinum group metals, diamonds, and coloured gemstones.
Internal Management
Chopard’s Head of Corporate Sustainability (HCS) leads the due diligence system and the audit programme. In doing so, the HCS works closely with Chopard’s purchasers and buyers dealing directly with our company’s business partners.
The system is overseen by the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who is alerted by the HCS of any potential red flags that arise with regards to the company’s sourcing practices. The CFO reports to the board on these issues.
Control and Transparency System
We maintain a Supply Chain Map of all our suppliers of precious stones and metals with information about the different tiers down to the origin of raw materials (when possible). To collect this information, we engage with our suppliers through, among others, sustainability and traceability questionnaires, digital platform, publicly available information, interviews, and on-site visits. All documents accompanying the precious goods are also scanned and archived on our servers, guaranteeing computerized traceability between the supplier's documents (transfer documents) and our unique receipt numbers.
Gold: each supplier must stipulate on the delivery documents how the gold provided meets Chopard’s ethical gold requirements (transfer document) so that this information can be verified at each physical reception. Any discrepancy is directly reported to the precious material buyer and the material is segregated to avoid any mixing with the stock. The stock manager will wait for the buyer's instructions to release or return the material.
Diamonds: all diamonds purchased by Chopard are compliant with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). We require our suppliers to comply with the ‘System of Warranties’, a continuation of the KPCS that applies to polished diamonds. The compliance with this written warranty on our suppliers’ diamond’s invoices is regularly monitored. We also require all our diamonds’ suppliers to be RJC Code of Practices (COP) certified.
Coloured Gemstones: we require our coloured gemstones’ suppliers to provide relevant information (origin, treatments, etc.) on their invoices. We require our suppliers, with priority given to suppliers of sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, to register on the Gemstones and Jewellery Community Platform, to assess and report to us on their own supply chain due diligence practices.