Conflict Diamond Compliance Policy

As a responsible supplier and Diamond Trading Company Sightholder, the Julius Klein Group continues to do our part to ensure the diamonds we sell are certified from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations resolutions. We are committed to giving our clients the confidence that every diamond we sell is Kimberley Process compliant and accompanied by a System of Warranties guarantee.

Along with every invoice submitted to our customers, JKG incorporates the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme warranty:

"The diamonds herein invoiced have been purchased from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations Resolutions. The undersigned hereby guarantees that these diamonds are conflict free, based on personal knowledge and/or written guarantees provided by the supplier of these diamonds."

This is our commitment to our customers. In turn, it can act as your commitment to your own customers.

Notes on the issue

What are Conflict Diamonds?

• Conflict diamonds are diamonds illegally traded to fund conflict in war-torn areas, particularly in central and western Africa. The United Nations (UN) defines conflict diamonds as "...diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council
• 99.8% of the diamonds mined, manufactured and old are conflict-free, but even one diamond supporting conflict is one diamond too many.

Background

• To eliminate the traffic in conflict diamonds, governments, the international diamond and jewelry industry and non-governmental organizations developed a two-pronged solution that provides greater assurance to consumers about the legitimate origin of their diamonds and diamond jewelry.
• The Kimberley Process, a government regulated system adopted in 2000 by more than 40 countries, the UN, and the diamond industry, requires that rough diamonds mined after January 2003 be shipped in tamper-resistant containers and be accompanied by a government validated Kimberley Process certificate. Only participating countries may legitimately export rough diamonds - and only to co-participating countries.
  
  • As of 2006, 69 countries have adopted a system to control the export and import of rough diamonds.
• To strengthen the government program, the international diamond and jewelry industry represented by the World Diamond Council initiated and committed to a voluntary system of warranties. It requires that every time diamonds (in any form) change hands, the seller will affirm on the invoice that the diamonds have been purchased through legitimate, authorized channels not involved in funding conflict.
• Because of the aforementioned efforts, the diamond pipeline is now 99.8% conflict free.
• JKG actively complies with all of the aforementioned as well as the USA Patriot Act (requires dealers to implement anti-money laundering programs to detect attempts to finance terrorism).

We would imagine that concerned consumers entering your store will likely want to be assured that:

• The diamond industry cares about this issue
• That conflict diamonds are likely not in your stores because you have assurances from vendors like JKG that all of our stones are conflict free
• That diamonds are the lifeblood of Africa and lead to peace and prosperity in most cases
• That the diamond pipeline is now 99.8% conflict free

The following Website -- http://www.diamondfacts.org -- was launched recently by the World Diamond Council. A public site, its goal is to educate both consumers as well as the trade about the conflict diamonds issue, especially as we anticipate the arrival of the new movie, Blood Diamond -- http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com.

Click here to see an example of a Kimberley Process Certificate
Israel
South Africa
EU

Click here to see an example of a System of Warranties statement
JKD Invoice