(Rapaport…July 18) Jewelers of America (JA) issued a letter to its 10,000 members on July 17 urging support for a new, bipartisan bill aimed at eliminating the import of conflict diamonds.
The Clean Diamonds Act (S. 1084), introduced in June, requires that all rough and polished diamonds and diamond jewelry imported to the U.S. comes from a nation that has, or is in the process of implementing, a system of import and export controls to stop the flow of conflict diamonds. The bill also grants the president waiver authority to allow diamond imports from countries that have demonstrated a commitment towards ending the conflict diamond trade. The proposed legislation does not require a conflict-free label or country-of-origin identification for diamonds and diamond jewelry sold at retail.
The bill was introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio).
In addition to JA’s endorsement, the bill also has the support of the World Diamond Council (WDC) and various human rights and nongovernmental organizations active in the conflict diamonds issue.