KP Gives CAR More Export Freedom

RAPAPORT... The Kimberley Process (KP) has relaxed its rules for roughexports from the Central African Republic (CAR), enabling the government to approve multiple shipments each month without needing to wait for external authorization. The decision, which will initially be implemented as aone-year trial, aims to improve the efficiency of CAR's operations and increasethe amount of rough it can export, the World Diamond Council (WDC) said Monday.The KP made the changes during its plenary meeting in New Delhi, India, fromNovember 18 to 22. Under the new system, the CAR government will issue KPcertificates for all rough diamonds exported from the country's eightgreen zones -areas the KP has deemed legal and conflict-free. Previously, CAR was only ableto make one monthly shipment, which required a waiting time as thegovernment had to gain approval from the KP's CAR monitoring team prior to eachexport. While shipments will still be monitored, some of the burdenof verifying provenance will shift to trading centers within CAR, the WDCexplained. The CAR government will also be required to provide comprehensiveinformation about rough-diamond exports on a monthly basis. The monitoring team will check that CAR's certificates match the import records of the countries that receive the diamonds. Although the onus for assuring all shipments are conflict-free will fall on government authorities, the WDC still urged caution whendealing with CAR diamonds. "Members of the trade are urged to practice enhancedvigilance when handling rough diamonds believed to have originated from thecountry," the WDC stressed. "This should be done by ensuring that importshipments from CAR only include goods that have been sourced from the approvedgreen zones, and always are accompanied by a duly authorized CAR-government KPcertificate." Image: Person inspecting rough diamonds. (Shutterstock)