The London Metal Exchange would have the right to name and shame, suspend or possibly even delist brands that fail to comply with its new proposed responsible sourcing principles, according to a position paper it published on Friday October 5.
The exchange is proposing that by the fourth quarter of next year, all of its brands undertake an assessment against the red flag indicators set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which will be used to determine whether there is a higher risk in respect of metal sourcing practices. Brands identified as being higher risk must then be audited against an industry standard incorporating OECD guidance on responsible supply chains; for cobalt and tin, audits will be mandatory. Unless deemed otherwise, lower risk brands - aluminium and alloys, copper, lead, nickel, zinc and molybdenum - will be rechecked annually. "The fact that the standards compliance date is a year later for other metals than cobalt and tin is partly because in those metal brands, we know there are standards that producers can and are working towards, whereas in other metal brands, we respect the fact that...