{ "version": "grey-v2", "frozen": true, "frozen_on": "2026-10-14", "name": { "en": "Grey List", "zh": "灰名单" }, "meaning": "Grey means there is nothing to read. A company is on the list when a fixed check of four public places found no statement of any kind, published by the company, about the subjects below. It is not a finding that the company does anything wrong, and not a finding that it does anything right.", "disclosure": { "definition": "Any content published by the company itself, or by a parent that expressly covers it, about any subject listed here. Form does not matter: a report, a policy page, a paragraph on the website, a section of an annual report.", "subjects": [ "environment: carbon, energy, water, waste, recycling, biodiversity", "labour and human rights", "where materials come from, and traceability", "business ethics and governance policies", "corporate social responsibility and philanthropy", "a certification or membership on these subjects: RJC, SMETA/Sedex, ISO 14001, SA8000, B Corp, SBTi, Fairmined, Fairtrade and the like" ], "does_not_count": [ "a grading report for a stone (GIA, IGI, NGTC and the like)", "a fineness or quality mark (BIS Hallmark, ISO 9001)", "product, craft or design description", "a statutory section of an annual report that says only 'not applicable' or 'nil'", "anything written about the company by someone else" ], "when_unsure": "found" }, "candidates": { "discovery_sources": { "index": "Trust Index, issue in force: companies with zero claims and no report located", "filing": "stock-exchange disclosure: listed jewellery companies, and listed companies reporting a lab-grown diamond business", "gov_assoc": "a government or trade-association document or published member list that names companies", "exhibition": "a published exhibitor list of a trade fair" }, "whole_lists": "A source list is taken whole or not at all. Which lists are in is recorded before any check is run.", "new_company_hq": [ "CN", "IN" ], "kinds": { "grower_cutter": "lab-grown diamond grower, or diamond cutter and polisher", "brand_retailer": "jewellery brand or retailer" }, "eligible_if": "every company named on a source list. A company without an answering website is checked in the places that remain, and its row says that it has no website.", "refused_source_hosts": [ "indiamart.com", "1688.com", "alibaba.com", "made-in-china.com" ], "source_proof": "the source page is archived and the company's name appears in the archive as written", "no_natural_persons": true, "index_rows": "a company that comes from the Trust Index keeps the index's own segment label instead of a kind", "liveness": "whether the website answers is probed when the list is sealed and recorded; no company is dropped for lacking one" }, "places": [ { "id": "site", "what": "the company's official website: home page, every same-site link on it, the sitemap, the fixed paths, up to the page cap. A company with no website is checked through its own WeChat official account instead, found with the fixed WeChat query." }, { "id": "exchange", "what": "listed companies only: the exchange's disclosure platform, annual reports and any sustainability, ESG, CSR or BRSR report for the two most recent financial years", "platforms": [ "cninfo.com.cn", "sse.com.cn", "szse.cn", "bse.cn", "hkexnews.hk", "bseindia.com", "nseindia.com" ] }, { "id": "registry", "what": "public registers, by legal and trading name", "registers": [ "Responsible Jewellery Council members", "SBTi target dashboard", "B Corp directory" ] }, { "id": "search", "what": "fixed queries; the first ten results; only material published by the company counts", "queries": { "en": "\"{name}\" sustainability OR ESG OR CSR OR \"responsible sourcing\" OR \"code of conduct\"", "zh": "\"{name}\" 社会责任 OR 可持续 OR ESG OR 环保 OR 责任采购", "site_en": "site:{domain} sustainability OR ethical OR environment OR responsible", "site_zh": "site:{domain} 社会责任 OR 环保 OR 可持续", "wechat": "site:mp.weixin.qq.com \"{name}\"" }, "which": "en for every company; zh for a company with a Chinese name; wechat for a company with a Chinese name or with no website; the site queries when the machine pass was cut off by the page cap", "how": "When a search API is configured, the program runs each fixed query once per company and archives what the provider's terms allow it to keep (the full results where storage is licensed; otherwise the query, the time and every address shown); both readers read the same results. Without an API, each reader runs the queries." } ], "beyond_the_places": "Nothing outside the four places is searched. Company-published material met while checking them counts wherever it sits.", "machine": { "user_agent": "GDCS-research/1.0 (+https://gdcs.ai/grey-list/; info@aidi.org)", "obey_robots": true, "delay_seconds": 1.0, "timeout_seconds": 30, "max_pages": 150, "fixed_paths": [ "/sustainability", "/esg", "/csr", "/responsibility", "/responsible-sourcing", "/ethics", "/policies", "/about", "/about-us", "/company", "/our-story", "/social-responsibility", "/environment", "/kimberley-process" ], "priority_url_words": [ "sustain", "esg", "csr", "respons", "ethic", "polic", "environ", "about", "company", "story", "social", "governance", "kimberley", "conflict", "zeren", "huanbao", "guanyu" ], "strong_terms": { "en": [ "sustainab", "\\besg\\b", "social responsibility", "responsible sourcing", "responsibly sourced", "ethically sourced", "conflict[- ]free", "kimberley", "human rights", "modern slavery", "child labou?r", "forced labou?r", "code of conduct", "anti[- ]corruption", "anti[- ]bribery", "carbon footprint", "carbon[- ]neutral", "carbon emission", "carbon offset", "low[- ]carbon", "zero[- ]carbon", "decarboni", "net[- ]zero", "greenhouse gas", "renewable", "eco[- ]friendly", "traceab", "biodiversity", "iso ?14001", "\\bsa ?8000", "\\brjc\\b", "responsible jewell?e?ry council", "\\bsmeta\\b", "\\bsedex\\b", "\\bb[- ]corp", "science[- ]based targets", "\\bsbti\\b", "fairmined", "fairtrade", "\\bbrsr\\b" ], "zh": [ "可持续", "社会责任", "环境保护", "环保", "低碳", "碳中和", "碳排放", "碳足迹", "减排", "节能", "绿色发展", "绿色制造", "绿色工厂", "绿色矿山", "绿色供应链", "绿色能源", "责任采购", "溯源", "可追溯", "金伯利", "人权", "职业健康", "行为准则", "反腐", "反商业贿赂", "公益", "慈善", "iso ?14001", "sa ?8000", "责任珠宝" ] }, "weak_terms": { "en": [ "ethic", "environment", "recycl", "emission", "climate", "solar", "community", "charit", "giving back", "philanthrop", "\\bworkers?\\b", "\\blabou?r\\b", "health and safety", "governance", "due diligence", "provenance", "country of origin", "wastewater", "green energy", "fair wage", "living wage", "whistleblow", "conflict", "\\boecd\\b", "\\blbma\\b", "\\bcsr\\b" ], "zh": [ "生态环境", "生态保护", "回收利用", "循环利用", "循环经济", "再生金", "再生资源", "排放", "捐赠", "劳工", "员工权益", "安全生产", "举报", "公司治理", "负责任", "冲突", "清洁能源", "光伏", "废水", "废气" ] }, "strong_hit": "found, without a reader", "weak_hit": "the passage is kept and a reader rules on it", "snippet_chars": 160, "weak_passage_cap": 60, "over_cap": "unchecked: a reader cannot rule on more passages than the cap", "unrendered": "a site whose pages carry no readable text without running scripts is unchecked", "why_csr_is_weak": "In grey-v1 a product code, Ruby(CSR), counted as a statement on social responsibility. From grey-v2 the word goes to a reader." }, "readers": { "count": 2, "independent": "neither reader sees the other's result; reader A does not see the machine's result; reader B rules on the machine's weak passages after its own walk", "each_reports": "for each place: the addresses opened, and either the passage found or 'nothing'", "citation_check": "every address a reader cites is fetched and archived by the script; a quoted passage that is not in the archive is an unverified hit and still keeps the company off the list" }, "decision": { "found": "a strong machine hit, or a weak passage a reader accepts, or anything a reader reports, verified or not", "empty": "no strong machine hit, every weak passage rejected with a reason, both readers report nothing in every place that applies. For a company with no website the machine pass does not apply, and the readers' WeChat check takes the website's place.", "unchecked": "the website did not answer, robots.txt forbids the pages, or a reader could not finish a place", "listed": "empty, and signed by the named human reviewer", "published_about_found_or_unchecked": "nothing, beyond the counts" }, "exit": { "published_disclosure": "removed at the next monthly re-check, or sooner when the company sends the address and it is verified", "correction": "the check missed something that was already public; shown separately from the above", "cost": "none; nothing bought from AIDI or from anyone else changes the list", "log": "every exit stays on the page with its date and which of the two it was" }, "recheck": "every listed company is checked again each month", "page": { "order": "alphabetical", "one_sentence_per_row": true, "no_company_pages": true, "no_scores_no_ranking_no_advice": true, "no_service_or_payment_links": true, "counts_are_a_floor": "the check leans toward keeping a company off the list, so the count of companies with nothing to read is a lower bound", "no_website": "a listed company without a website is marked so on its row" }, "replaces": "grey-v1, from issue 2026-11 on; issue 2026-10 stays under grey-v1", "decided_by": "Jack Li, 2026-10-14: companies without a website are checked too, through their WeChat official account and the remaining places." }