The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) is going through some major changes after the Richemont group and Pandora both announced that they have quit the organization “over its failure to take a strong enough stand against Russia,” IDEX Online reports. Earlier this month Alrosa resigned its membership of the RJC.
Richemont, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-leCoultre and Piaget, said: “If RJC cannot uphold the highest of standards, then we cannot be part of that. That’s why we stepped down.” Danish jeweler Pandora quit the RJC after 12 years. Its CEO Alexander Lacik said: “The war requires all businesses to act with the utmost responsibility regarding any interactions or business dealings with Russia and Belarus. Pandora cannot in good faith be a member of an association that does not share our values.”
In addition, Iris Van der Veken, executive director of the RJC since 2019, has quit her post, “reportedly unhappy that the 1,500-member group was still certifying diamonds from Alrosa, which is a third owned by the Russian government.”
