TIN CODE INDEPENDENT VALIDATION
Tin Code reports reflect evidence that participating companies have provided on their activities in specific reporting periods and gives one of six performance ratings, ranging from Not Relevant, Inadequate, Informal, Progressing, to Conforming and Third-Party Verified.
The company initially completes a Self-Assessment Questionnaire and submits supporting evidence for each standard of the Tin Code. An independent external assessor engaged by ITA validates the evidence and assigns a performance rating.
As the final step, the Tin Code report is published on the website. To enable progressive improvement, ITA assists companies in identifying gaps to improve in later reports.
Tin Code reports take six months on average to develop and are aimed to be published annually.
TIN CODE RATINGS
The Tin Code adopts a system of ratings to provide transparent information on company achievements and efforts to progress against relevant standards in a transparent manner. We consider this more effective and positive than a simple ‘Pass/Fail’ approach.
The Independent Assessor determines one of the six possible ratings for each standard, including whether evidence confirms that standard to be ‘Not Relevant’ to company circumstance.
| RATING | EVIDENCED ACTIVITY |
|---|---|
| THIRD-PARTY VERIFIED | Company activity has been verified by a qualified body, for example during audit or inspection. |
| CONFORMING | Company activity is formally documented and implemented with evidence of conformance with the Standard. |
| PROGRESSING | Company activity is documented but may benefit from formalisation in a procedure or expansion to the Standard. |
| INFORMAL | Company activity is underway but may benefit from being documented more formally to the Standard. |
| INADEQUATE | There is insufficient evidence available to achieve other ratings. |
| NOT RELEVANT | The Standard is not appropriate or does not apply to the company. |
Third-party verification of company activities relating to any standard of the Tin Code is evidenced by documentation from any qualified body such as ISO or ISAE auditors, government inspectors and/or from the Tin Code Assurance.
In all cases, the Independent Assessor reviews the scope, quality and findings of the third-party verified evidence to ensure consistency and determine the company Tin Code ratings.
TIN CODE REPORT
The Tin Code Report is a public colour-coded report which summarises the relevance and performance of the company against each standard of the Tin Code.
It is narrated and illustrated to assist users to understand, and the company to communicate, their ESG performance on governance issues, environmental aspects, health and safety, community relations, protection of human rights among other important expectations.
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1
OVERVIEW OF PRINCIPLE PERFORMANCE
Consist of a description of the overall ranking for the principle. It will summarise strengths and gaps.
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2
STANDARD
A description of the standard and what it covers.
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3
RATING
The section indicates the rating for the example (”Not relevant”, “Inadequate”, “Informal”, “Progressing”, “Conforming” or “Third Party Verified” which was allocated to each of the standards of the principle. Each rating has a designated colour.
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4
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Consist of a description of the overall ranking for the principle. It will summarise strengths and gaps.
Tin Code reports are public and can be used by consumers and customers of tin, investors, standard-setters, markets, consumers, and other stakeholders.
Tin Code reports are also linked to external sustainability platforms like LME.