Kimberley Process meeting at Twickenham

Kimberley Process meeting at Twickenham

Meeting in Twickenham, 11-13 September 2001

The Kimberley Process met in plenary session in Twickenham from 11 to 13 September 2001. Representatives of 32 governments, the European Community, as well as representatives of the international diamond industry, notably the World Diamond Council, and non-governmental organisations, took part in the meeting. In line with the Road Map agreed at the plenary in Windhoek in February 2001, and building on significant progress achieved at the plenary sessions in Brussels in April and Moscow in July, the Twickenham meeting focused on the refinement of detailed proposals for the international certification scheme for rough diamonds, based on agreed minimum common standards.

Participants at the plenary considered a revised version of a draft document setting out the essential elements of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds. They agreed in principle on the following proposals for key elements for an international certification scheme:

• the use of forgery-resistant certificates and tamper-proof containers for shipments of rough diamonds
• internal controls and procedures which provide credible assurance that conflict diamonds do not enter the legal market
• a certification process for all exports of rough diamonds
• the collation, and sharing with other participants, of relevant production, import and export data on rough diamonds
• credible monitoring and oversight of the international certification scheme for rough diamonds
• effective enforcement of the provisions of the certification scheme, i.a. by effective, dissuasive and proportional penalties to violations of this legislation
• the useful role of self-regulation by the diamond industry which will fulfill minimum requirements
• the sharing of information with all other participants on relevant rules, procedures and legislation, as well as examples of national certificates used to accompany shipments of rough diamonds

There was further agreement that, subject to refinement and final endorsement, the above key elements would form the basis of an international certification scheme. Participants will continue their deliberation on all aspects of the scheme, including the nature of the international instrument in which the certification scheme will be reflected, on how a monitoring system can be made credible and with industry on the interaction between self-regulation and the scheme. It was also agreed that additional work would be undertaken to assess the relationship between proposed elements of the envisaged certification scheme and international trade obligations, as well as elements relating to implementation of the proposed scheme in the European Community.

The next meeting of the Kimberley Process is due to take place in Luanda, Angola from 30 October to 1 November 2001.

The Kimberley Process will report to the 56th session of the United Nations General Assembly on progress achieved.