Amnesty: Wrong Words, Wrong Concept

Within the next two weeks the European Commission will publish new European rough diamond import/export regulations in the Official Gazette, making it the law of the land. While we are writing these lines, the governments of the United Kingdom and Belgium are still arguing over Article 12, which defines the status of all diamond inventories of the Kimberley certification schemes implementations next year.

The original proposal calls for a three months transition period after which all remaining (or undeclared?) rough stocks will be considered "Conflict stocks". That is ridicules.

Some have proposed a longer transition period, anywhere between ten to sixteen months. The Belgium and British Foreign offices are now suggesting an "amnesty", i.e., they want all old stocks to be considered clean, non-conflict.

Amnesty is a horrible word: it suggests that the industry has done something wrong. It hasn't.

The new regulations are supposed to implement Kimberley in Europe. NOWHERE IN THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS IS THERE ANY REFERENCE TO OLD STOCKS. Kimberley is the start of a new beginning. From day one all the rough diamond business will be certified. If Europe wants to out-do and over-do Kimberley, more than the original Kimberley, then the best way to do this is by introducing new concepts that have never been discussed during the past two to three years by the 37 governments involved in the Kimberley Process.

If Article 12 remains in - in any way, shape or form - we expect that the entire Kimberley Process will be derailed and implementation will become virtually impossible. Lets hope that common sense will prevail in Europe.