The Copper Mark Standard Setting Procedure defines the process by which standards are developed and revised.

STANDARD SETTING

The Copper Mark Standard Setting Procedure defines the process by which standards are developed and revised.

To provide feedback on the Copper Mark standards, please contact the Copper Mark at any time by sending an email to info@coppermark.org. Hard copies of the standards and relevant documents are available upon request by sending an email to info@coppermark.org at no fee.

Grievances about this process, The Copper Mark, or sites participating in or using the Copper Mark Assurance Process should be handled through the Grievance Mechanism.

CURRENT PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS

Risk Readiness Assessment Revision

The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and the Copper Mark are revising the Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA) Criteria and corresponding Criteria Guide in 2021 / 2022.

The first public consultation on the revised RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide took place from 2^nd May 2022 to 1^st July 2022.

Summary feedback from that public consultation can be found here.

The draft documents on which stakeholders provided feedback during the first public consultation are here:

DRAFT Risk Readiness Assessment (RRA) Criteria (ESP, CHI)

DRAFT Criteria Guide (ESP, CHI)

Please note, that while we welcome feedback at any time, we are currently revising the draft RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide that formed the basis of the first public consultation. A second public consultation on the revised draft will take place before the end of 2022 and we encourage you to provide feedback on that revised draft during the second public consultation.

Providing Feedback

The RMI and the Copper Mark have developed a detailed stakeholder engagement plan, available here.

We invite any interested stakeholder to provide feedback at any time by sending an email to info@coppermark.org and / or RMI@responsiblebusiness.org.

In order to ensure the feedback is constructive, please consider the following guidelines:

Provide input into either the methodology, criteria, or format;
Provide overarching comments and / or specific points for consideration but avoid “red-lining”;
Avoid recommending changes where previously adopted language from international or other schemes’ standards / frameworks is directly referenced or used; and

Please provide contact information to allow us to follow up with any questions.

Read about the process, stakeholder engagement plan, and Technical Committee Terms of Reference:

The RRA is used by over 320 mining, smelting, refining, and manufacturing sites across multiple metals including Aluminum, Alumina, Bauxite, Cobalt, Copper, Gold, Graphite, Iron Ore, Lead, Lithium, Mica, Molybdenum, Nickel, Palladium, Platinum, Rare Earth Elements, Silver, Steel, Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten, and Zinc

The RRA is both a set of criteria for responsible production and a tool for companies to communicate their environmental, social and governance practices. Its main uses are:

As voluntary self-assessment and self-reporting tool for minerals and metals producers and processors participating in the RMI’s Responsible Minerals Assurance Process.
As the foundation of the RMI’s Environmental, Social, and Governance Standard for Mineral Supply Chains; and
As the foundation of the Copper Mark Criteria for Responsible Production against which sites are independently assessed during the Copper Mark Assurance Process.

The methodology of the RRA is available on the RMI website here.

Objectives

The last revision of the RRA Criteria was finalized in 2019. In this second revision, the RMI and the Copper Mark will work together to achieve the following main objectives:

Ensure the recognition and acceptance of the RRA as a credible set of criteria for responsible mineral production practices by key stakeholder groups, namely mineral producers, refiners, smelters or other producers of a finished metal product, supply chain companies, investors and civil society organizations actively involved in addressing social and environmental impacts of mineral production.
Respond to findings of benchmarking exercises with other voluntary standards applicable to mining, smelting and / or refining operations to adjust the RRA to:
1. Ensure full coverage of relevant issue areas,
2. Provide more clarity and prescription on the scope of the criteria, and / or
3. Strengthen criteria where appropriate to ensure these continue to reflect the core expectations formalized in leading voluntary standards in this field as well as of key stakeholder groups.
Clarify requirements for the implementation and assurance of the RRA Criteria through accompanying Criteria Guide aimed at both implementing companies and assessors.

Timeline

An approximate timeline for the project is included below. All timings are indicative only and subject to change.

Activity	Estimated Timeline
Kick-Off Initial revision of the RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide	June 2021 June – September 2021
Launch of the Technical Committee	September 2021
Revision Cycle 2 of the RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide	September – Mar 2022
Stakeholder engagement: Bi-weekly meetings of the Technical Committee Engagement with experts and affected stakeholders 8 topic-focused workshops Public Consultation Round 1	September - February 2022 March - April 2022 May-June 2022 May-June 2022
Revision Cycle 3 of the RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide based on stakeholder consultations.	July - October 2022
Stakeholder engagement: Bi-weekly meetings of the Technical Committee Targeted follow up with stakeholders from the workshops / public consultation Public consultation Round 2	July - October 2022 July - October 2022 November 2022
Revision Cycle 4 of the RRA Criteria and Criteria Guide based on stakeholder consultations.	December - March 2023
Publication	March 2023

PAST PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS

Chain of Custody Standard

The Copper Mark published its draft Chain of Custody Standard for consultation from 22 December 2021 through 28 February 2022. The Standard is complementary to but not a replacement for an assessment of the Copper Mark Criteria, available to mines, smelters, refiners, and semis-fabricators (currently in pilot).

The Chain of Custody Standard’s core objectives are to:

Increase transparency in copper supply chains.
Allow customers to be confident that their copper was produced responsibly.
To track a copper product throughout the supply chain.
Contribute to the uptake of responsible production practices and in particular use of the Copper Mark Responsible Production Criteria (Copper Mark Criteria) and Assessment Process.
Contribute to the increased use of recycled material and support efforts to move to a circular economy.
Allow product-level claims of Copper Mark copper.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. Your comments have been logged and will be reviewed to inform the revision of the Chain of Custody Standard. If necessary, the Copper Mark will hold a second public consultation for any unresolved issues.

Development of the Standard

The development process is managed by Copper Mark staff through the Technical Working Group. The timeline for development, consultations, and finalization are intended to be complete for launch in 2023.

Summary documents of the public consultation are available below:

Chain of Custody Standard Public Consultation Feedback Log
Chain of Custody Standard Public Consultation Summary Report

Joint Due Diligence Standard for Copper, Lead, Nickel and Zinc

The Joint Standard was developed by a working group including the partner organizations, other interested commodity associations, multi-metal company representatives, as well as OECD and LME. The Joint Due Diligence Standard will undergo an independent third-party OECD Alignment Assessment. Through the working group, the partner organizations implement a clearly defined roadmap to ensure copper, lead, nickel and zinc brands will be able to rely on the shared framework to respond to the LME before June 2022. The process includes four main phases:

Phase 1 – 2019 / early 2020: Development of the roadmap and formation of the working group (completed)
Phase 2 – 2020: Development of the joint Due Diligence Standard and Tool, including a public consultation (finalization of the tool in progress)
Phase 3 – Early 2021: Pilot implementation of the joint Due Diligence Standard
Phase 4 – 2021 / early 2022: Independent third-party OECD Alignment Assessment and application for approval by LME as Track A “OECD-aligned external standard”.

From 27 August 2020 to 30 September 2020, the partner organizations published a draft of the joint Standard for consultation. The anonymized comment log, as well as a summary report of the main feedback received and how the working group has sought to address these are published here:

Joint Due Diligence Standard Public Consultation Feedback Log
Joint Due Diligence Standard Public Consultation Summary Report