Certifications

LWG 4.0 TRADERS AUDIT PROTOCOL

LEATHER WORKING GROUP TRADERS PROTOCOL

In 2017, Leather Working Group introduced the LWG Trader Audit to help assess traders of part-processed leather material, designed to provide better transparency and assurance to the leather supply chain. Traders of part-processed material, and finished leather can now be assessed against the LWG Trader Audit Standard and certified as an Approved Trader within the LWG Programme. The objective of this Trader’s Protocol is to provide a system of accreditation primarily for traders of part-processed hides & splits but which could be used for other LWG accredited materials if appropriate, e.g. finished material. This audit is not applicable for raw-hides and skins. The audit requirements specified in this document are designed to assess the LWG status of incoming material (e.g. the LWG Medal Rating) and then allow the LWG status to be passed through the Trader’s System and on to the purchaser (normally the leather post-tanning and finishing operations). The core objective of this supplementary audit procedure is to ensure that the tracking system of material through the trader’s operation is sufficiently robust to enable the information to be passed on to the buyer. This audit protocol is not intended to address health & safety or quality issues. The Leather Working Group has expanded the scope of the standard to also allow traders of finished leather and raw hides/skins to obtain a 12-month LWG Trader Certification. The LWG Trader Audit helps you to understand how much material a trader buys from LWG-Certified leather manufacturers, stores, and sells. The data obtained during a Trader Audit can be input into a leather manufacturer's own audit, using the LWG Leather Manufacturer Audit Standard. Version 4.0 of the LWG Trader Audit Protocol is the latest version of the Protocol for the auditing of all part-processed and finished material traders. To be eligible for this audit, Traders must have a permanent warehouse facility where material is brought in before dispatch to customers, and the Trader should be able to demonstrate physical and administrative separation of material that originates from LWG-certified facilities and material from Non-LWG Certified Facilities.