Summary
All members, warehouse companies and their London agents and other interested parties 25/065 Brands 02 April 2025
2025 UPDATE ON RESPONSIBLE SOURCING TRANSPARENCY FOR LME- LISTED BRANDS
1. This notice provides an update on the next phase of transparency for the LME’s responsible sourcing programme.
Background
2. In October 2019, the LME published its Policy on Responsible Sourcing of LME-Listed Brands (the “Policy”), requiring brands to demonstrate ongoing implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (“OECD Guidance”) through one of four compliance tracks set out by the LME. Additionally, brands must maintain a valid ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certification (or equivalent) in respect of environmental management and health and safety management systems at their production sites.
3. Fulfilling the requirements of Tracks A, B and C demonstrates implementation of the OECD Guidance, with all four tracks having elements of public disclosure, as follows:
(a) Brands following Track A must meet the OECD Step 5 transparency requirements of their chosen Track A standard;
(b) Brands following Track B must publicly disclose the audit report, ensuring that this includes the requirements of OECD Step 5 reporting;
(c) Brands following Track C must publicly disclose the Red Flag Assessment (“RFA”) templates in line with the LME’s phased transparency approach (see paragraph 5); and
(d) Brands following Track D self-attest to 100% secondary material sourcing, and this is publicly reported on LMEpassport.
4. The LME has been publishing the Track B audit reports and self-attestations from brands following Track D on LMEpassport since 2021. Currently many producers voluntarily disclose their Track A audit reports and ISO certifications on LMEpassport as well.
5. For Track C, the transparency of information involves three phases, with the transparency requirements increasing over time (as described in the Policy):
(i) For the 2021 and 2022 reporting periods, the LME published summary statistics on all RFAs. These can be found at LME responsible sourcing – reporting on the LME website.
(ii) For the 2023 and 2024 reporting periods, the LME will publish anonymised versions of each brands’ RFA (noting that it is the responsibility of the brand producers to undertake this anonymisation, should they so prefer).
(iii) From 2025 onwards, the LME will publish attributed versions of RFAs.
6. This notice marks the transition from phase one to phase two for the transparency of Track C information and provides information on additional responsible sourcing data which will be available on LMEpassport, as outlined in paragraph 7 below.
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