Our trader audit was launched back in 2017 to help assess traders of part-processed leather material, designed to provide better transparency and assurance to the leather supply chain. Since then, we've 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.
The LWG Trader Audit Standard covers six separate sections:
- Declaration
- General Facility Details
- Material Data
- Traceability
- Operating Permits
- Waste Management
Quicklinks
Eligibility
| Purchasing | Raw hides/skins, part-processed material, and finished leather |
| Selling | Raw hides/skins, part-processed material, and finished leather |
| Facility | Only a trader operating from a physical warehouse is eligible for audit. The warehouse may be owned or rented by the trader, it must be physically segregated from other businesses, organisations, or activities, it must be identifiable through a unique address, which must be indicated on documentation associated with despatches from the site. Access to the facility must be controlled by the trader and the warehouse must be operated by the trader with their own employees. Any trader not meeting these requirements, is, within the scope of the LWG audit, regarded as an agent trader and not eligible for audit. |
| Separation | Must be able to demonstrate physical and documented separation of material that originates from LWG-certified vs. non-certified facilities |
| Suppliers | Can give details of all suppliers, including quantity supplied from each, and contact details |
| Customers | Can give details of all customers, including quantity supplied to each, and contact details |
| Minimum thresholds of LWG Material supplied* | To be eligible for an audit and certification, the trader must meet one of the conditions below: Have suppled more than 300,000 m2, 300,000 pieces or 2,000 ton of LWG origin material in the data period to be included in the audit Or The quantity of LWG origin material traded exceeds 50% of the total volume traded in the data period to be included in the audit * Minimum threshold requirements were introduced with effect from 1st March 2023 |
Traders that do not own and operate their own physical warehouse where material is received into or dispatched from cannot be audited using the LWG Trader Audit Standard. These companies may be eligible to join LWG through our membership route, where they would be classified as an 'Agent Trader'. However, please keep in mind that this membership does not confer any form of certification and therefore cannot be used by leather manufacturers during the course of their own audit under the LWG Leather Manufacturer Audit Standard.
Where material originating from an LWG audited facility can be shown by evidence (pallet cover/physical marking/documentation) to have passed from that audited facility to a receiving facility that is itself seeking LWG certification, without any operations performed upon it, with the consignment remaining intact and unopened, the origin of the material may be considered by the receiving organisation to be material from an LWG audited source and valid for inclusion in their own LWG audit.
Audit Scope
The LWG Trader Audit Standard was designed to assess the system by which a trader tracks material coming into their warehouse, ensuring their systems are robust, monitoring material origin, and understanding the LWG certification status of their supplier or feeding into the LWG certification process of their customers.
Length of audit: 1-day on site
Certification validity: 12-months
Not sure if you are eligible? Get in touch with our team directly.
Record of Changes
Changes from 4.0.0 to 4.0.1 - Updated 29 November 2022 - Come into effect 01 March 2023
# | Description |
1 | Q4 and Q5 added to Section 1. Declaration - Minimum threshold of LWG material traded for the trader to be eligible to audit |
Changes from 3.0.1 to 4.0.0
# | Description |
1 | Scope extended to include traders of unprocessed hides and skins. |
2 | Expansion of traceability section so as to be compatible with traceability requirements of Leather Manufacture Audit Protocol 7 |
3 | Clarification that all LWG audits are site audits. The trader audit is of the site (warehouse) through which material is traded |
Ready to apply?
Ready to begin your journey to LWG Approved Trader status? Click the button below to register for an audit now!