As a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), Karl Faller e.K. also reviewed in 2023 the established guidelines & procedures to continue to comply with the implementation Code of Practices (COP).

In 2022, suppliers were asked by means of a questionnaire to provide information on their compliance with legal requirements, working practices, controls to manage risks to children and forced labour, their environmental impact, the controls they have in place to ensure adequate health and safety at work, and the due diligence processes they have in place to manage risks related to minerals from conflict and high risk areas (CAHRA).

Questionnaire answers provided by suppliers indicate an overall low to medium level of risk with regards to human rights and labour practices. Up to now, none of our gemstone suppliers are certified against the RJC COP or any other relevant standards and none of them have formalised policies in place, however we did not identify any serious human rights or labour practice risks (including forced labour, child labour, poor labour practices) based on the questionnaire responses provided. We intend to follow up with our suppliers to encourage them to join the RJC. We noticed, that some of the suppliers are taking measures to achive a certification against RJC COP.

As a member of the RJC, we are obliged to check these questionnaires for completeness and accuracy again.

An updated version has been sent to our suppliers to confirm the information submitted earlier last year. Any changes have to be reported to Karl Faller e.K.

In 2023 the company Karl Faller e.K. sent besides a KYC (Know Your Counterpart) questionnaire to the customers, as we have set itself the goal of continuously developing the business processes with regard to ethical, social and environmental aspects, and it is important that the business partners also pursue these goals.

The following measures have been implemented 2023 at company Karl Faller e.K.:

• paper bags for smaller gems instead of plastic bags
• ergonomic work chairs in cutting department
• new grinding machine for improving the efficiency in cutting facetted gemstones
• charging station for electric vehicles for customers and staff members
• replacement of a company vehicle by a Plug-in Hybrid

We will continue to work with our supply chain throughout 2024 to build on these efforts which will include, where applicable, steps to appropriately manage identified risks in alignment with our policies and the requirements of the RJC Code of Practices standard.

The implemented processes and controls to manage the environmental impacts of our direct business operations are still being enforced.