The Kimberley Process

How does the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme work?

The World Diamond Council has worked with the United Nations, government bodies, commercial interests and civil society to introduce a workable system for the certification of the source of uncut diamonds. This system, known as the Kimberley Process, was formally adopted in November 2002 and came into operation on January 1st 2003. The European Union regulations enforcing the Kimberley Process came fully into force on 13 February 2003. It operates on two fronts:

i. Rough stones. Every parcel will be numbered, tamper-free and accompanied by a certificate with the country of origin and other details.
ii. Polished stones and jewellery. At the World Diamond Congress in London in October, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association agreed to instruct its members to give assurances that all diamonds sold by them (rough, cut and in finished goods) are conflict free.

We wrote to our diamond suppliers in August 2000 (well before the Kimberley Process was developed) requiring an undertaking with remarkably similar wording to the version that was actually adopted but, following its adoption, we sent a further letter to all suppliers relating to the Kimberley Process. We require all our supplies to supply us with merchandise that complies with the Kimberley Process and to make the following promise:

"I confirm that, to the best of our knowledge and in accordance with the Kimberley process, we do not supply any diamonds to F.Hinds as part of finished jewellery items or in any other form which come from countries or regions in which there is war or other conflict in progress and where the sale of such diamonds may be believed to be contributing to the continuation of the conflict or its scale. I will confirm this on each invoice as required by the Kimberley process but also warrant that it is the case regardless of whether such confirmation is present."

It is hoped that the Kimberley Process will reduce the flow of conflict diamonds by 80-90%, which mean that they would represent less than 1% of world production.