Our Commitment

The Copper Mark Grievance Mechanism addresses concerns arising from producers, stakeholders and the public regarding the initiative, the assurance system, assessor competencies or claims made by participants with regards to their conformance status with the Copper Mark. The Grievance Mechanism aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ criteria for effectiveness of non-judicial grievance mechanisms.

The Copper Mark is committed to an environment where open, honest communications are the expectation. The objective of the Grievance Mechanism is to ensure that grievances raised with the Copper Mark are handled in a timely, comprehensive, consistent, transparent, and effective manner. It is intended to allow Copper Mark stakeholders to raise concerns, have these investigated and provide a remedy, in particular where rights are violated.

You can submit reports relating to

• Grievances against the Copper Mark. Grievances about the implementation of the Copper Mark’s policies, procedures and operating processes for which its management and board of directors has direct governance responsibility.
• Grievances against a site assessed using the Copper Mark Assurance Process. Grievances against a site which does not conform with or follow the guidance of all applicable Copper Mark policies, procedures and documents.

In line with the scope above, reports submitted should focus on the policies, procedures, processes or systems of the Copper Mark or the participating site. References in reports to individuals should be limited to what is strictly necessary to support the grievance. Please note that the Copper Mark has sole discretion to reject grievances that are outside of these parameters or to delete information in a report which does not fall within these parameters.

The information you provide will be sent to us by EthicsPoint. The Copper Mark makes every effort to handle the information provided to us with care and appropriate confidentiality. Please note that anonymous complaints significantly limit the ability of The Copper Mark to properly investigate and resolve a grievance and therefore we discourage the making of anonymous complaints.

See the EthicsPoint FAQs for more information.