New Supply Chain Protocol Enables N-Tier Traceability
A new protocol, the Responsible Business Transparency Protocol (RBTP), a data exchange protocol built on the United Nations Transparency Protocol (UNTP) and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) verifiable credentials, was recently announced by the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA).
The UNTP focuses on interoperability standards that allow any technology platform to participate in interoperable and sustainable value chains. The protocol defines a relatively simple architecture comprising standards for product data, facility data, traceability data, conformity data, and identity data.
“The Responsible Business Transparency Protocol is grounded in UN standards, with the technical specifications clearly defined to support broad adoption by governments and industries around the world,” said Tyler Gillard, chief strategy officer, RBA, in a statement. “That means it's designed to be adapted to local needs and regulations, and works using open-source technologies, across existing software and systems. Data stays with the owner so they can decide what data gets shared.”
As global supply chains are extremely complex, regulations are constantly evolving, and governments and customers are increasingly requiring provenance and other documentation to verify claims ranging from proof of origin to sustainability and due diligence. To address these challenges, the RBTP is an industry-specific extension of the UNTP that helps enable verifiable, portable, and interoperable supply chain data exchange across the automotive, electronics, and related sectors and helps enable the foundation of n-tier traceability.
The RBA recently began a collaborative pilot of the RBTP, bringing together diverse supply chain actors to test the protocol against data-sharing challenges, data complexities, and audit standard interoperability in mineral supply chains. The pilot aims to provide proof of concept for the RBTP and practical insights for the tools and engagement required to help ensure scaling throughout supply chains.
This pilot spans copper, cobalt, lithium and tantalum, which are critical minerals that underpin modern electronics – everything from EV batteries to smartphones. More than 20 organizations are involved, including upstream producers, downstream buyers, standards bodies, and a government agency. The goal is to demonstrate how a protocol built for traceability, auditability, and interoperability can work under complex, real-world conditions.
With its large and diverse membership across the electronics, automotive, retail, and other sectors and its members’ suppliers on multiple continents, the RBA is uniquely positioned to pilot and pressure-test the infrastructure needed to facilitate transparency between suppliers and buyers across supply chain tiers.
Instead of relying on spreadsheets, PDFs, or siloed platforms to share sustainability and other data, companies can issue digital credentials. With a simple scan of a bar code or QR code, or by clicking on a hyperlink, these credentials can be accepted, passed along and checked by others, either manually or using existing tools and platforms.
The pilot will examine scenarios including the handling of partial or missing data, linking chain of custody claims across supply chain tiers, accommodating different sharing and security preferences and technical maturity levels, and verifying due diligence certifications across platforms.
The pilot aims to deliver quantifiable insights on implementation cost and effort, validation of the RBTP as a flexible and scalable protocol, clarity on how traceability and sustainability claims can be trusted and reused, and the portability of supplier credentials across systems and platforms.