Six capabilities that turn an undocumented supply chain into a defensible compliance position.
Independent checks on conditions, safety and human rights risk at the point of production, with photographs, structured data and honest reporting.
We follow material from origin through the chain, acting as the field layer for international traceability platforms and chain-of-custody systems.
Helping cooperatives and small-scale producers meet recognised responsible sourcing standards through registration, training and record-keeping.
Preparing producers and processors for OECD-aligned third-party audit and scheme certification, then closing the gaps we find.
Packaging the evidence international buyers need to satisfy their legal obligations, in the format their regulators and auditors expect.
Local-language complaint and remediation systems, designed and operated as the regulation requires them to be.
We do not invent frameworks. We help you meet the ones your buyers, regulators and auditors already use.
We hire in the markets we serve. Field teams work close to producers, in French and local languages, where the evidence actually is.
We do not buy, sell or trade the goods we verify. ICONGRP SARL has no cobalt trading business. We have no commercial interest in the finding, which is why our data is data you can trust.
We understand precisely what European regulators, buyers and auditors require, and how to produce it to their standard.
Child labour and abuse are the core issue. We never overstate what we find. Accuracy is the entire product.
Around 70% of the world's cobalt originates in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It sits in every electric vehicle, phone and laptop battery sold in Europe.
Under the EU Batteries Regulation, any company placing batteries on the European market must prove that cobalt is responsibly sourced, traceable, and free of human rights abuse. The obligation falls on the importer. But the evidence sits with the producer, thousands of miles away, in a language they do not speak.
That gap is the whole problem. Closing it is the whole service.
The local rules matter. Since 16 October 2025, cobalt leaves the DRC under an export quota system run by ARECOMS, with a yearly cap and monthly allocations. Hand-dug cobalt can only be bought and sold through the state company EGC. A cooperative that sells outside that route is not a compliant source, however good its site conditions. We check where a cooperative sits in that system before we check anything else.
We support both sides of it: Congolese exporters who must produce the evidence, and European buyers who must hold it. ICONGRP has an established operation in Kinshasa, a small field team in Kolwezi, Lualaba province, where most monitored cobalt sites are, and a UK compliance team that knows what regulators and notified bodies will accept.
The same model applies wherever the burden of proof outruns the available evidence. The EU Deforestation Regulation places identical obligations on timber, cocoa, coffee, rubber, soy, palm oil and cattle. The CSDDD extends the principle across the supply chains of the largest companies. As our clients' obligations widen, so does our practice.
Battery makers, EV manufacturers and electronics brands placing goods on the EU market, who carry the legal obligation to prove responsible sourcing.
Mining companies, exporters and refiners who must supply evidence to their buyers in order to keep selling into European markets.
Artisanal and small-scale producer groups formalising their operations to meet recognised responsible sourcing standards.
International providers who need a trusted field delivery partner in the markets they cannot reach.
Country Director, DR Congo. Leads the compliance practice in-country. Director of ICONGRP SARL, based in Kinshasa, with a background in construction and technical delivery. Completes an eight-week compliance programme with the UK team before the cobalt work begins.
A small team of Congolese staff based in Kolwezi, Lualaba province, who carry out the site visits. They speak French, Swahili and local languages and are employed by ICONGRP SARL, not subcontracted.
Based at our Milton Keynes office. Sets the method, reviews every report before it leaves, and keeps the regulatory position current. Led by Joel Mbala, Managing Director.
Kinshasa is 1,500 km from the cobalt belt, which is why the field team lives in Kolwezi rather than travelling from the capital. Sites around Kolwezi, Fungurume and Likasi are reached by road within a day.
We do not quietly note it and move on. The client is told the same day. The finding goes in the report as a critical issue with the evidence behind it. We do not remove children from a site ourselves, because that can push families into worse situations; we refer the case to the relevant local child protection body and record that referral. The site cannot be reported as compliant until a follow-up visit confirms the issue has been addressed and the cause dealt with. The same applies to forced labour and serious safety failures.
We have not published a sample report because we have not completed a client pilot yet, and we will not invent one. This is the structure every client receives.
One page: site, dates, overall finding (compliant, compliant with conditions, or not compliant) and the critical issues, if any.
Registration, EGC and ARECOMS status, export route, and how the site maps to the OECD five-step framework and the Batteries Regulation requirements.
Each finding with its photographs, GPS, documents and dated observations. Interview findings summarised without identifying anyone.
What stops the site being audit-ready, what would fix it, and what we would need to see on a follow-up visit.
Field data, photographs and reports are held on encrypted cloud storage administered from the UK under UK GDPR. Nothing stays on personal phones once a visit is uploaded.
Only the field team, the UK reviewer and the client's named contacts can see a client's file. We do not share findings between clients.
We sign a mutual NDA before any pilot and are happy to work under yours.
Worker and community interviews are anonymised at source. Identities are not recorded, not stored and not shared with the site, the client or anyone else.
Our cobalt verification work starts in 2027. We do not have case studies yet and we will not pretend otherwise. We are taking on a small number of founding pilot clients who want a field partner in Lualaba in place before the Batteries Regulation due diligence date of 18 August 2027.
One site, three to four weeks.
Fixed, from £8,000 per site. Additional sites in the same area quoted at a reduced rate.
Desk review, two site visits, interviews, evidence check, written report, one follow-up call.
The notified-body verification itself. We prepare you for it; we do not replace it.
A single-site pilot tells you where you stand before you commit to anything larger.
Tell us the site or the supply line you need to stand behind. We will tell you what the regulation asks of you.
Three to four weeks on one site: desk review, two site visits, worker interviews and an evidence check. Fixed fee from £8,000.
We collect and verify the data, then hand you an audit-ready report or a complete due-diligence dossier.
Ongoing monitoring and reporting that keeps your compliance position current as the rules move.
No. Under the Batteries Regulation your due diligence policy must be verified by a notified body appointed by an EU member state. We prepare the evidence and the site that verifier will test.
No. Neither ICONGRP nor ICONGRP SARL buys, sells or trades cobalt or any other material we verify.
Our field team is based in Kolwezi. Sites in the Kolwezi, Fungurume and Likasi areas are reached by road within a day.
The client is told the same day, the finding is recorded as critical, the case is referred to the local child protection body, and the site cannot be reported as compliant until a follow-up confirms it has been addressed.
Not yet. The cobalt work starts in 2027 and we are taking on founding pilot clients now.
The EU Batteries Regulation (due diligence from 18 August 2027), the EU Deforestation Regulation, OECD Due Diligence Guidance, 3TG conflict minerals rules and, from July 2029, the CSDDD for the largest companies.
Your named contacts, our field team and the UK reviewer. Data is held on encrypted UK-administered storage and we sign an NDA before starting.
From £8,000 for one site over three to four weeks, fixed in advance.