I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5147

To prohibit the importation of diamonds mined in certain countries, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 12, 2000

Mr. HALL of Ohio (for himself, Mr. WOLF, and Ms. MCKINNEY) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To prohibit the importation of diamonds mined in certain

countries, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Access to

5 a Responsible Accounting of Trade Act of 2000’’.

6 TITLE I—PROHIBITION ON

7 IMPORTS

8 SEC. 101. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTS.

9 No diamonds that have been mined in or exported

10 from the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Libe-
2

•HR 5147 IH

1 ria, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, the Re2 public of Angola, Guinea, Togo, or Ukraine may be im3 ported into the United States, except for diamonds—

4 (1) the country of origin of which has been cer5 tified as the Republic of Sierra Leone by the inter6 nationally recognized government of that country, in

7 accordance with United Nations Security Council

8 Resolution 1306 July 5, 2000; or

9 (2) the country of origin of which has been cer10 tified as the Republic of Angola by the internation11 ally recognized government of that country, in ac12 cordance with United Nations Security Council Res13 olution 1173 of June 12, 1998.

14 SEC. 102. WAIVERS.

15 (a) CERTIFICATION OF NO TRANSSHIPMENT.—The

16 Secretary of the Treasury may waive the prohibition under

17 section 101 with respect to a country listed in that section

18 if the Secretary certifies to the Congress that diamonds

19 mined in Sierra Leone or Angola are not being trans20 shipped through that country for the purpose of evading

21 any prohibition on trade in diamonds exported from Sierra

22 Leone or Angola.

23 (b) NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS.—The Presi24 dent may waive the prohibition under section 101 with re25 spect to a country listed in that section if the President—
3

•HR 5147 IH

1 (1) determines that it is in the national security

2 interests of the United States to exercise the waiver;

3 and

4 (2) transmits that determination, together with

5 reasons for the determination, to the Congress.

6 TITLE II—CERTIFICATES OF

7 ORIGIN

8 SEC. 201. CERTIFICATES AND STATEMENTS INDICATING

9 COUNTRY OF MINING.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—

11 (1) Not later than 1 year after the date of the

12 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treas13 ury, in concurrence with the Special Representative

14 on Conflict Diamonds appointed under section 401,

15 and after consultation with appropriate organiza16 tions, Federal agencies, and members of the public,

17 shall issue regulations requiring—

18 (A) diamonds, and

19 (B) products made in whole or in part

20 from diamonds,

21 which enter, or are withdrawn from warehouse for

22 consumption, into the customs territory of the

23 United States to be accompanied by a certificate

24 stating the English name (or unmistakable abbrevia25 tion) of the country in which the diamonds were
4

•HR 5147 IH

1 mined. Such certificate shall be legible and reason2 ably conspicuous on the outermost container in

3 which the diamonds or diamond products ordinarily

4 are sold to the ultimate purchaser in the United

5 States.

6 (2) The importer of record of diamonds or dia7 mond products shall be responsible for the certificate

8 required by paragraph (1).

9 (b) REQUIREMENT APPLICABLE TO PARCELS OF

10 DIAMONDS.—The Secretary of the Treasury may by regu11 lation provide that the requirements of subsection (a)

12 apply to parcels of diamonds that are imported, rather

13 than individual diamonds.

14 SEC. 202. ENFORCEMENT.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the Secretary of the

16 Treasury determines that a person has violated section

17 201 or regulations issued thereunder, the Secretary may

18 issue an order assessing a civil penalty of not more than

19 $50,000 for each violation or requiring compliance with

20 such section, or the Secretary may commence in the

21 United States district court for the district in which the

22 violation occurred a civil action for appropriate relief, in23 cluding a preliminary or permanent injunction.

24 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any person who willfully

25 or with the intent to defraud violates subsection (a) or
5

•HR 5147 IH

1 (b) of section 201, or any regulation issued thereunder,

2 shall—

3 (1) upon conviction for the first violation under

4 this subsection, be fined not more than $100,000, or

5 imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both; and

6 (2) upon conviction for the second or any subse7 quent violation under this subsection, be fined not

8 more than $250,000, or imprisoned for not more

9 than 1 year, or both.

10 (c) EXEMPTION.—If diamonds or diamond products

11 do not comply with any requirement of subsection (a) or

12 (b) of section 201 or any regulation issued thereunder,

13 and the Secretary determines that no fraud or willful ne14 glect was involved in the failure to so comply, the Sec15 retary shall afford the person responsible for complying

16 with such requirement a reasonable opportunity to provide

17 the certificate required by section 201(a) or the statement

18 required by section 201(b), as the case may be.

19 SEC. 203. EXEMPTION AND WAIVERS.

20 (a) EXEMPTION.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in

21 concurrence with the Special Representative on Conflict

22 Diamonds appointed under section 401, may exempt from

23 the requirements of section 201 diamonds and diamond

24 products that are valued below a minimum dollar amount

25 determined by the Secretary.
6

•HR 5147 IH

1 (b) WAIVERS.—The Secretary of the Treasury may

2 waive the requirements of section 201 for periods of not

3 more than 1 year each if, for each waiver—

4 (1) the Secretary determines that—

5 (A) it is not possible to determine, in a

6 cost-effective manner, the country in which the

7 diamonds imported into the United States were

8 mined; or

9 (B) an effective system, such as the system

10 described in title III, is otherwise being imple11 mented that prevents the importation of dia12 monds, revenues from the sale of which would

13 be used to support continued conflict in the re14 gions in which the diamonds were mined; and

15 (2) the Secretary submits that determination,

16 and the basis for the determination, to the Congress.

17 SEC. 204. REPORTS BY SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

18 The Secretary of the Treasury and the Special Rep19 resentative on Conflict Diamonds shall, not later than 6

20 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and

21 not later than the end of each 12-month period thereafter,

22 submit to the Congress a joint report on the feasibility

23 of identifying the country in which diamonds, both rough

24 and cut, were mined.
7

•HR 5147 IH

1 TITLE III—INTERNATIONAL

2 EFFORTS

3 SEC. 301. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress finds that—

5 (1) the use of funds from the illegitimate dia6 mond trade to support conflicts in Africa has dev7 astating effects on the peoples of the regions in8 volved in the conflicts;

9 (2) United Nations Security Council Resolu10 tions 1306 and 1237 prohibit the importation of

11 rough diamonds from Sierra Leone and Angola, ex12 cept those accompanied by a certificate of origin

13 issued by the government of that country; and

14 (3) the initiative of the diamond industry, as

15 presented in the Resolution of the World Federation

16 of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond

17 Manufacturers Association in Antwerp on July 19,

18 2000, as well as the progress of the South African

19 led Working Group on African Diamonds, in devel20 oping proposals for a global certification and moni21 toring system for diamonds, are important steps to22 ward international controls on ‘‘conflict’’ diamonds.

23 SEC. 302. ACTION BY EXECUTIVE BRANCH.

24 The Congress urges the President—
8

•HR 5147 IH

1 (1) to take immediate action to develop and im2 plement, together with other governments and orga3 nizations, an effective international system for con4 trolling trade in rough diamonds and to direct the

5 appropriate Federal departments and agencies to

6 begin planning for implementation of such a system;

7 and

8 (2) once a global certificate of origin system for

9 rough diamonds is in place, including forgery-proof

10 certificates of exports, secure packaging, import and

11 export controls, and an international diamond data12 base, to take appropriate steps to fully adhere to

13 this system, and to actively promote international

14 compliance.

15 TITLE IV—SPECIAL REPRESENT16 ATIVE ON CONFLICT DIA17 MONDS

18 SEC. 401. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON CONFLICT DIA19 MONDS.

20 (a) APPOINTMENT.—The President shall, not later

21 than 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act,

22 appoint a Special Representative on Conflict Diamonds.

23 The Special Representatives on Conflict Diamonds shall

24 hold office at the pleasure of the President and shall have

25 the rank of Ambassador.
9

•HR 5147 IH

1 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Special Representative on

2 Conflict Diamonds shall have the following functions:

3 (1) To serve as chairperson of an interagency

4 working group established by the President to ad5 dress the issues relating to the use of proceeds from

6 the sale of diamonds mined in certain regions in Af7 rica to support armed conflict in the countries in

8 these regions. The interagency group shall include

9 representatives of the Department of the Treasury

10 (including the Customs Service), the Policy and

11 Planning Staff and the Bureau of Democracy,

12 Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of

13 State, the Office of the United States Trade Rep14 resentative, and the Department of Commerce.

15 (2) To represent the United States at inter16 national meetings on the issues described in para17 graph (1).

18 (c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Special Rep19 resentative on Conflict Diamonds shall submit to the Con20 gress, not later than 6 months after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, and not later than the end of each 6-

22 month period thereafter, a report on the following:

23 (1) In consultation with the intelligence commu24 nity, on the export of diamonds—
10

•HR 5147 IH

1 (A) from countries subject to an embargo

2 imposed by the United Nations on imports of

3 diamonds from those countries; and

4 (B) from countries through which dia5 monds subject to such an embargo are trans6 shipped in order to evade the embargo, includ7 ing Liberia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire,

8 and Ukraine.

9 (2) On the development of the proposals relat10 ing to the commercial importation of rough dia11 monds that were adopted in the resolution of the

12 World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the

13 International Diamond Manufacturers Association in

14 Antwerp on July 19, 2000, including the status of—

15 (A) regulations of the countries that are

16 the major exporters and importers of diamonds,

17 relating to exports and imports of diamonds;

18 (B) international monitoring and inspec19 tion of diamonds that are traded; and

20 (C) an international computer registry of

21 diamonds, and a means of determining the in22 digenous mining resources of exporting coun23 tries.
11

•HR 5147 IH

1 (3) On the development of technologies to mark

2 diamonds and technologies to identify the source of

3 diamonds after they are polished.

Æ