The LMEpassport platform is now live, having launched on 31 August following a competitive bid process where the London Metal Exchange (LME) selected IHS Markit, in partnership with essDOCS, to develop the solution.

LMEpassport acts as a digital document register to store and maintain certificates of analysis (COAs) and sustainability credentials for listed metal brands traded at the LME. The solution’s development was headed by IHS Markit, with essDOCS developing the LMEpassport smartphone app – enabling metals industry participants to connect to the platform with their mobile device and allowing them to easily add key data such as Production Cast References (PCR) to the system for subsequent processing. The smartphone app allows users to type data or OCR scan by taking photos from within the app.

Certificates of Analysis are crucial quality assurance documents showing the purity, size and shape of a batch of metal, and which are required to accompany shipments of LME metals into and out of warehouses. LMEpassport digitizes the COA data and provides more transparency, visibility and ease to the COA process. The solution also allows users to add sustainability provenance information (on a voluntary basis), such as a metal’s carbon footprint or other sourcing credentials.

The LME’s requirement for warehouse companies to start using the system will be rolled out gradually over 15 months, starting with LME Aluminium in October 2021. The LMEpassport smartphone app is available today for both iOS and Android devices.