March 3, 2020

To our stakeholders:

I am pleased to confirm that Fair Trade Jewellery Company reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Kind regards,
Kesha Frank
Head of Production, Due Diligence Manager.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company reaffirms its commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a B Corp, Responsible Jewellery Council Member, OECD STEP 5 reporter, Canadamark Company, Just Gold Program Participant, Fairmined and Fairtrade Licensees we are overtly aware of the risks in our supply chains and work diligently to avoid any human rights abuses that are so rampant in our sector.

During this year of COVID-19 global pandemic, our internal focus has been on the safety of our staff as well as our clients.

We have worked hard to comply with health local guidelines, always maintaining stricter safety precautions than are required by local by-laws for the comfort of our staff. The majority of our staff have switched to working from home for their comfort and safety. All staff that require time at our retail/manufacturing facility to complete their work are regularly polled on their comfort levels with regards to local guidelines and case counts. This information is used to craft updated policy on store occupancy, working teams, and client appointments.

As we complete construction on our new retail/manufacturing location, we have used our learning from this pandemic to inform our health and safety considerations in that space.

In January we completed our most recent Fairtrade Audit under the new FLOCERT Auditing Scheme.

We are currently in the process of completing our B Corp audit.

We are also preparing for our Responsible Jewellery Council Audit, to take place around September 2021. As such we are in the process of requesting renewed KYC documentation for all our suppliers and updating our Provenance page on our website with new information on all our suppliers. This page is publicly accessible on our website and is radically transparent as compared to others in our field.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company relies on the reporting of our partners in our supply chain for our own auditing and reporting. Currently, there are no known instances of labour-related risks from our suppliers.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has always paid above local minimum wage requirements for all staff, regardless of tenure or seniority. We have always provided our staff with flexible working hours and arrangements when possible. We always offer more paid vacation time than is required by local regulations. Fair Trade Jewellery Company provides all staff with inflation-adjusted salary raises yearly as well as a benefits package.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company strives to maintain a "best-in-class" target for our labour policies.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company provides staff with access to 1:1 meetings with mentors and or managers to resolve any workplace conflicts, manage delivery expectations and answer questions regarding and to help shape labour policy within the company.

Recently we have instituted weekly emails as a method of communicating staff priorities, safety concerns with regards to the global pandemic, and to identify areas they need assistance.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company is aware of the environmental damage our sector causes. As such we seek to find solutions to reducing this impact via our supply chain actors so we can offer the most environmentally sounds options to our clients.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has been using 100% green energy since 2014.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has worked hard to cut out as many harmful chemicals as we can from our production process, by switching to more environmentally responsible options wherever possible. We have strict internal guidelines for the storage and disposal of chemicals required for our manufacturing process, as well as strict health and safety guidelines for the handling and use of anything deemed harmful. Fair Trade Jewellery Company maintains a list of all chemicals on-site, with their SDS/MSDS forms and relevant treatments should anyone be exposed to anything. We also have designated staff who maintain First Aid certifications.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has designed a system of production that allows us to use a minimal amount of water, by replacing water that would be required for cooling with a closed system that circulates glycol instead.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company offers clients a variety of ways to make environmentally responsible purchases. We offer clients a variety of options including but not limited to: 100% Certified Recycled gold, 50-50 Blend of Certified Recycled and Small Scale Artisinally Mined gold, Recycled Diamonds, Post-Consumer Recycled stones, Lab-Grown and Vintage Stones.

As Fair Trade Jewellery Company completes its newest B Corp Audit, we will use the new guidelines and requirements to shape internal environmental policies. B Corp policies have always played a core role in shaping company ethos.

Fair Trade Jewellery is in the process of completing renovations on a new retail/manufacturing location. This location is being built with the consideration of our environmental footprint, both in its construction and in its design.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has since 2018 published our supplier's compliance with our requests for KYC and AML documentation. We are in the process of updating this list in preparation for our Responsible Jewellery Council Audit, and to reflect the new Fairtrade Auditing scheme.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company has explicit policy with regards to anti-corruption and money laundering to help guide our decision making when assessing new suppliers.

Fair Trade Jewellery Company offers all staff the options and ability to participate in our collective continued learning around anti-corruption and money laundering issues bu giving access to external resources such as webinars, lectures, conferences and published articles, as well as briefings on updated internal policies.

As we complete our Responsible Jewellery Council Audit for this year we hope to see an increase in our suppliers participating in the legally required bare-minimum. We hope to see our industry continue to catch up to our standards as well as a decrease in our competitor's use of false claims through the enforcement of stricter rules and regulations.