TruStone-Compliant Indian Sandstone: Responsible Sourcing for Public Paving

The Netherlands and Belgium have taken responsible sourcing of natural stone further than any other European market, and they have done it through a specific mechanism: TruStone, an international responsible business conduct covenant for the natural stone sector.

If you supply paving into Dutch or Belgian public works, this is the first question you will be asked. Not the last one, and not an optional extra.

What TruStone actually is

TruStone is a covenant — a voluntary agreement signed by companies, government bodies and civil society organisations — covering responsible business conduct in the natural stone supply chain.

It is not a product certificate you buy and put on a box. It is a due diligence commitment: participants undertake to identify, prevent and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their supply chains, and to report on what they find and what they did about it.

Public authorities in the Netherlands and Belgium participate, and their procurement follows from that participation. That is why a Dutch municipality buying setts for a town square asks a supplier questions that a British garden centre does not.

What a participant has to be able to demonstrate

Due diligence in practice means being able to answer, with evidence:

1. Where does this stone come from? Not the country. The quarry. Named, located, and identifiable.

2. Who processes it, and where? The quarry and the processing unit are frequently different businesses in different districts. Both are in scope.

3. What are the conditions at those sites? Working hours, wages, health and safety, child labour, forced labour, freedom of association.

4. How do you know? Audit, inspection, third-party certification, or first-hand presence. A supplier's assurance is not evidence.

5. What did you find, and what did you do? Due diligence expects that risks are found — the test is whether they were identified and addressed, not whether the supply chain was declared perfect.

6. Can this be traced from delivery back to source? A batch delivered to a Dutch municipality should be traceable to the block, the quarry and the processing unit.

The precondition nobody states

Every one of those six requirements depends on one thing, and it is not a certificate.

You cannot audit a supply chain that terminates in the word "Rajasthan".

A supplier who buys blocks on the open market, from whichever trader had material that month, cannot answer question one — and therefore cannot answer questions two through six either. No amount of documentation fixes that, because the information does not exist anywhere.

So the practical starting point for TruStone compliance in Indian stone is embarrassingly simple: the quarry must be named, on the documentation, in a way that could be checked by someone who travelled there.

Bijolia in Bhilwara district, for Kandla Grey. Bundi and Khadhipur for Raj Green and Autumn Brown. Ramganjmandi in Kota for Kota Blue limestone. Khatu in Nagaur for Rainbow and Teakwood. Modak village near Ramganjmandi. Bansi Paharpur and Fatehpur Sikri for Agra Red.

That is the foundation. Everything else — audit, certification, remediation — is built on it.

How this relates to other schemes

XertifiX and Fair Stone are German-originated third-party certification schemes covering natural stone from developing countries, with independent inspection of named quarries and processing units. They are certificates against a standard.

TruStone is a due diligence covenant. It is broader in what it asks of a participant's own conduct, and it does not simply hand you a pass because you hold someone else's certificate.

They are complementary rather than alternative. A supplier holding XertifiX or Fair Stone certification for specific sites has evidence that feeds a TruStone participant's due diligence — but the participant still owes their own process.

One thing to be precise about: a certificate covers named sites, not a company. Ask any supplier claiming certification: which quarries and which processing units does your certificate cover, and does it cover the material on this order? A blanket claim across a whole catalogue is a claim that certification does not work like.

See Selling Stone to Germany: XertifiX, Fair Stone.

The Indian stones in scope for Benelux public paving

Note that several of these have more than one quarry area listed. That is honest rather than vague — the belt is real and the specific quarry must be pinned per order. A supplier who gives you one village for a stone quarried across three districts is telling you what you want to hear.

What to ask a supplier, in order

1. Which quarry produced this material? Village or town, district, state. On the invoice.
2. Which processing unit cut and finished it? Location.
3. Have you been to both? When?
4. Do you hold XertifiX or Fair Stone certification for these specific sites? Not for your company — for these sites.
5. Can you trace a delivered batch back to a block?
6. What did you find at these sites, and what have you asked them to change? A supplier who says "nothing, everything is perfect" has not looked.
7. Will you accept an audit visit by us or a third party?

Question six is the one that separates a genuine due-diligence partner from a supplier producing documents. Due diligence expects findings.

The commercial reality

This is more work than selling paving to a garden centre. It is also a defensible position, because most Indian exporters cannot do it — not because they are unwilling, but because their sourcing model does not generate the information.

An exporter who names the village, holds the quarry relationship, and can be visited is competing in a much smaller field for Benelux public work than for the general European paving market.

What Gemarix does differently

We name the village on the documentation, and we publish our origin map including the parts where it is uncertain. We corrected our own record on Kandla Grey — it is Bijolia in Bhilwara, not Kandla and not Kota, which is what an earlier version of our own documentation said. We corrected Rainbow and Teakwood to Khatu in Nagaur. We corrected Modak to Modak village near Ramganjmandi.

We will also tell you honestly which of our supply lines currently hold a third-party certificate and which do not, rather than implying blanket coverage. For a TruStone participant, a supplier who overstates their position is a liability, not an asset.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is TruStone?

An international responsible business conduct covenant for the natural stone sector, signed by companies, government bodies and civil society organisations in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is a due diligence commitment rather than a product certificate you buy.

What does a TruStone participant have to demonstrate?

Where the stone comes from at quarry level, who processes it and where, what the conditions are at those sites, how they know, what they found and what they did about it, and whether a delivered batch can be traced back to source.

Is XertifiX the same as TruStone?

No. XertifiX and Fair Stone are third-party certification schemes covering named quarries and processing units. TruStone is a due diligence covenant covering the participant's own conduct. A certificate feeds a participant's due diligence but does not replace it.

Can a stone trader be TruStone compliant?

It is very difficult. Every requirement depends on knowing the quarry, and a supplier who buys blocks on the open market from whichever trader had material that month cannot answer the first question, let alone the rest.

Which Indian stones are in scope for Benelux public paving?

Kandla Grey from Bijolia, Raj Green and Autumn Brown from the Bijolia and Bundi belt, Modak from near Ramganjmandi, the Dholpur sandstones, Agra Red from Bansi Paharpur, Jodhpur Red, Rainbow and Teakwood from Khatu, and Kota limestone from Ramganjmandi.