iPoint’s proposal for a “Blockchain-based traceability and data reporting system in Rwanda” has been selected as one of only four projects to receive funding from the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM). The goal of the project is to create a Blockchain-based system for tracing certain raw materials from conflict-affected and high-risk areas – so-called Conflict Minerals or 3TG – across the entire supply chain via verified, cryptographically secured transactions.

Together with its partners, iPoint, a leading provider of solutions for environmental and social product compliance, and sustainability, will establish a traceability process from mine to store, thereby demonstrating end users’ accountability for the upstream due diligence process. By doing so, blockchain-based traceability and data reporting onto a decentralised network will be used, providing downstream supply chain participants and end-users access to reliable and verified information on all relevant stages of the supply chain. The project will be piloted on tungsten in Rwanda and will run until February 2019.

The EPRM is a multi-stakeholder partnership established to create better social and economic conditions for mine workers and local mining communities, by increasing the number of mines that adopt responsible mining practices in conflict and high-risk areas. The EPRM members from industry, government, and civil society include Apple, Fairphone, HP, Intel, NXP, Philips, Tata Steel, Umicore, Valcambi, the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (T.I.C.), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Diakonia, Cordaid, IPIS, PACT World, the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), and Solidaridad.

“We are very excited and grateful that EPRM has decided to fund this project,” says Joerg Walden, CEO and founder of iPoint-systems. “iPoint has always been driven by the question how we can leverage cutting-edge technologies to make global supply chains more sustainable. This project will let us combine our long-standing experience in the downstream supply chain, gained via our market-leading cloud solution, the iPoint Conflict Minerals Platform (iPCMP), with the local expertise and internationally recognized due diligence services of our upstream-focused partners.”    

“I expect that the envisioned system for integrating and linking upstream with downstream data and actors will improve access to international investment and in turn contribute to continuous improvement of miners’ and local communities’ socio-economic conditions,“ says Sebastian Galindo, iPoint’s EPRM project manager. “We look forward to going beyond the current Blockchain hype and making a positive, sustainable impact on the ground.” 

About iPoint

iPoint-systems is a leading provider of software and consulting for environmental and social product compliance, and sustainability. More than 52,000 companies around the globe rely on iPoint for managing, tracking, analyzing, and reporting data across the whole value creation network. iPoint’s software and consulting services support you in meeting and staying one step ahead of regulations and requirements such as REACH, RoHS, WEEE, ELV, EHS, Conflict Minerals- and Modern Slavery-related laws, as well as other trending developments and challenges governing product, supply chain, and enterprise stewardship. iPoint’s holistic, circular perspective envisages a continuous, digital system lifecycle management process that supports not only compliance with the law, but also the sustainability of products, value chains, and brands. Further information: www.ipoint-systems.com and https://europeanpartnership-responsibleminerals.eu/

iPoint-systems gmbh

iPoint-systems gmbh

iPoint is a leading provider of software and consulting for environmental and social product compliance, and sustainability. Tens of thousands of companies around the globe rely on iPoint for managing, tracking, analyzing, and reporting data across the whole value creation network. iPoint’s software and consulting services support you in meeting and staying one step ahead of regulations and requirements such as REACH, RoHS, WEEE, ELV, Conflict Minerals- and Modern Slavery-related laws, as well as other trending developments in the compliance and sustainability arena.

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