(Rapaport… July 11, 2004) Following a Kimberley Process (KP) review mission to the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) the country has been removed from the KP participants list.
In its findings, the review mission validated indications that the Republic of Congo was not complying with requirements of the KP Certification Scheme (KPCS). It also found discrepancy between the scale of the country’s rough diamond exports and its estimated production capacity.
Despite a response from the country after receiving the mission’s report, Tim Martin, the KP Chair, released the following notice on July 9: “According to the findings of the review mission, KP participants cannot be confident that conflict diamonds are not entering the legitimate trade in rough diamonds through the Republic of Congo.”
Martin continued that: “The response to the review mission report from the Republic of Congo contains no assurances that they will issue KP certificates only for diamonds which can be demonstrated to have been produced within the Republic of Congo or imported in a manner consistent with the requirements of the KPCS. In light of this situation and the risk it presents to the integrity and credibility of the KPCS, the Chair issues a revised list of Kimberley Process Participants from which the Republic of Congo has been removed.”
All KP Participants, according to their national regulations, must immediately advise their customs authorities not to accept shipments of rough diamonds with KP certificates issued by the Republic of Congo. Participants are also requested to inform the Chair of any attempts to bring shipments of rough diamonds from the Republic of Congo into their respective territories.