I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 918
To prohibit the importation of diamonds unless the countries exporting the
diamonds into the United States have in place a system of controls
on rough diamonds, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 2001
Mr. HALL of Ohio (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms.
DELAURO, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr.
CAPUANO, Mr. HALL of Texas, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENTSEN, Mr.
BROWN of Ohio, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FRANK, Mr. HILLIARD,
Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mrs.
MORELLA, Mr. NADLER, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SERRANO, Mr.
CLAY, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. FILNER, Mr.
UDALL of Colorado, Mr. STARK, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms.
PELOSI, Mr. SNYDER, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. COYNE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr.
PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. ACKERMAN,
Mr. SABO, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs.
ROUKEMA, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. OLVER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr.
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. JEFFERSON,
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr.
DOYLE, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. WYNN, Mr. TOWNS,
Mr. FORD, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. RUSH,
Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. OWENS, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Ms. JACK-
SON-LEE of Texas, Ms. LEE, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SMITH of
New Jersey, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. WATERS, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. PAYNE,
Mr. CLYBURN, and Mr. MEEHAN) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to
the Committees on International Relations, and Financial Services, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the importation of diamonds unless the countries
exporting the diamonds into the United States have in
place a system of controls on rough diamonds, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Diamonds Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Diamonds are being used by rebels and dic-
tators to finance military activities, overthrow legiti-
mate governments, subvert international efforts to
promote peace and stability, and commit horrifying
atrocities against unarmed civilians. During the past
decade, more than 6,500,000 people from Sierra
Leone, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo have been driven from their homes by wars
waged in large part for control of diamond mining
areas. A million of these are refugees eking out a
miserable existence in neighboring countries, and
tens of thousands have fled to the United States.
Approximately 2,400,000 people have died in the
fighting.
(2) The countries caught in this fighting are
home to nearly 70,000,000 people whose societies
have been torn apart not only by fighting, but by the
thousands of children forced to become soldiers, by
the tens of thousands of women and girls raped and
forced into sexual slavery, and by a campaign of
forced amputations that has maimed and killed even
more men, women, and children.
(3) In the past decade, the United States Gov-
ernment has sent more than $2,000,000,000 in hu-
manitarian aid to the people caught up in the wars.
Over 
the 
same 
period, 
approximately
$10,000,000,000 in diamonds were smuggled out of
these same countries. Much of this money was used
to continue and spread the wars.
(4) The United States Government and human
rights advocates recently began working to block the
trade in conflict diamonds. Their efforts have helped
to build a consensus that action is urgently needed,
and they have persuaded the legitimate diamond in-
dustry that its own interests demand a comprehen-
sive effort to end the diamond smuggling that fuels
these conflicts.
(5) The United Nations Security Council, act-
ing under chapter VII of the Charter of the United
Nations, has prohibited all states from importing
diamonds from, and exporting weapons to, certain
countries affected by diamond-related conflicts. Un-
fortunately, diamond smugglers continue funding
rebel movements, and the sanctions have not been
sufficiently effective to achieve their goals. In turn,
this illicit trade has facilitated trade in narcotics,
arms proliferation, regional destabilization, money
laundering, and other criminal enterprises. This has
severely hampered efforts by the United States to
safeguard its citizens from drugs, terrorism, and
other threats to the security of the American people.
(6) Without effective action to prohibit trade in
conflict diamonds, the trade in legitimate diamonds
faces the threat of a consumer backlash that could
damage the economies of countries not involved in
the trade in conflict diamonds and penalize members
of the legitimate trade and the people they employ.
To prevent that, South Africa and more than 20
other countries are involved in working, through the
‘‘Kimberley Process’’, toward devising a solution to
this problem. As the consumer of two-thirds of the
world’s supply of diamonds, the United States has
an obligation to help sever the link between dia-
monds and conflict and press for implementation of
an effective solution.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTATION OF DIAMONDS.
(a) RESTRICTIONS.—
(1) 
REQUIREMENTS
FOR
IMPORTED
DIA-
MONDS.—Diamonds may not be imported into the
United States unless the country exporting the dia-
monds to the United States is implementing a sys-
tem of controls on the export and import of rough
diamonds that meets the requirements of paragraph
(2), consistent with United Nations General Assem-
bly Resolution 55/56 adopted on December 1, 2000,
or a future international agreement which imple-
ments such controls and to which the United States
is a signatory.
(2) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
SYSTEM
OF
CON-
TROLS.—The system of controls referred to in para-
graph (1) shall include the following:
(A) Rough diamonds, when exported from
the country in which they were extracted, shall
be sealed in a secure, transparent container or
bag by appropriate government officials of that
country.
(B) The sealed container or bag described
in subparagraph (A) shall include a fully visible
document that—
(i) certifies the country from which
the rough diamonds were extracted;
(ii) records a unique export registra-
tion number for, and the total carat weight
and number of, the rough diamonds in the
container or bag; and
(iii) is issued by the government of
that country.
(C) The country from whose territory the
rough diamonds are exported shall establish a
database containing at least the information on
exports of rough diamonds described in sub-
paragraph (B).
(D) Any country into whose territory the
rough diamonds are first imported prior to
polishing or other processing—
(i) shall permit importation of the
rough diamonds only in a container or bag
described in subparagraphs (A) and (B);
and
(ii) can verify, on the basis of docu-
mentation provided to it by electronic or
other reliable means, the legitimacy of the
export document included in the sealed
container or bag in which the rough dia-
monds were shipped, using the database
maintained in the country of export.
(E) Appropriate government authorities
shall conduct physical inspections of the sealed
containers and bags of rough diamonds to en-
sure compliance with the requirements of this
paragraph.
(b) MONITORING.—The President shall ensure that
the system of controls described in subsection (a) is mon-
itored by appropriate agencies of the United States.
(c) PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMISSION.—
(1) PURPOSES.—The President shall appoint an
advisory commission, the purposes of which shall
be—
(A) to make recommendations to the Presi-
dent on the effectiveness of the monitoring
under subsection (b), and on ways to improve
such monitoring; and
(B) to develop a labeling system, that
could be used by diamond and jewelry vendors,
that would certify to consumers that a diamond
imported into the United States has been sub-
ject to a system of controls on rough diamonds
described in subsection (a).
(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory commission
shall be composed of 11 members, 3 of whom shall
be representatives of private voluntary organizations,
and 2 of whom shall be representatives of the dia-
mond industry. The remaining members may be ap-
pointed from appropriate agencies of the United
States and other interested parties.
SEC. 4. PENALTIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Violations of section 3 are subject
to civil and criminal penalties under the laws of the United
States to the same extent as any other violation of the
customs laws of the United States.
(b) BLOCKING ASSETS AND PROHIBITING TRANS-
ACTIONS.—The President may exercise the authorities he
has under the International Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), without regard to section 202 of that
Act, to block, and prohibit transactions in, property owned
or controlled by any person who exports diamonds to the
United States from a country that fails to meet the re-
quirements of section 3(a) of this Act. The penalties pro-
vided in section 206 of the International Economic Powers
Act shall apply to violations of licenses, orders, or regula-
tions issued under this subsection to the same extent as
such penalties apply with respect to violations under that
Act.
(c) PROCEEDS
FROM
FINES
AND
FORFEITED
GOODS.—The proceeds derived from fines imposed for vio-
lations of section 3(a), and from the seizure and forfeiture
of goods imported in violation of section 3(a), shall, in ad-
dition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes,
be available only for—
(1) the War Victims Fund administered by the
Agency for International Development or any suc-
cessor program to assist victims of foreign wars; and
(2) grants under section 131 of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a).
SEC. 5. RESTRICTIONS ON OPIC AND EXPORT-IMPORT
BANK.
(a) OPIC.—The Overseas Private Investment Cor-
poration may not insure, reinsure, guarantee, or finance
any investment in connection with a project involving the
mining, polishing or other processing, or sale of diamonds
in a country that fails to meet the requirements of section
3(a).
(b) EXPORT-IMPORT
BANK.—The Export-Import
Bank of the United States may not guarantee, insure, ex-
tend credit, or participate in an extension of credit in con-
nection with the export of any goods to a country for use
in an enterprise involving the mining, polishing or other
processing, or sale of diamonds in a country that fails to
meet the requirements of section 3(a).
SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT.
The President shall transmit to the Congress, not
later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of
this Act, and not later than September 30 of each subse-
quent calendar year, a report—
(1) describing and evaluating the effectiveness
of the system of controls on trade in diamonds de-
scribed in section 3(a);
(2) identifying those countries that are imple-
menting those controls;
(3) identifying those countries that are not im-
plementing those controls, and describing the effects
of that failure on the trade in diamonds used to sup-
port conflict in the country or regions in which the
diamonds are extracted; and
(4) describing in detail technological develop-
ments that allow—
(A) the determination of where a diamond
was mined; and
(B) the marking and tracking of rough
and polished diamonds.
SEC. 7. GAO REPORT.
Not later than 3 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall report to the Congress on the effectiveness
of the provisions of this Act in preventing the importation
of diamonds traded in violation of the system of controls
described in section 3(a). The Comptroller General shall
include in the report any recommendations on any modi-
fications to this Act that may be necessary.
SEC. 8. NEGOTIATION OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT.
It is the sense of the Congress that the President
should take the necessary steps to negotiate an inter-
national agreement, working in concert with the Kim-
berley Process referred to in section 2(6), to eliminate the
trade in diamonds used to support conflict in the country
or regions in which the diamonds are extracted. Such an
agreement should create an effective global certification
system covering diamond exporting and importing coun-
tries, and should include those elements described in sec-
tion 3(a)(2).
SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘diamonds’’ in-
cludes any diamonds or diamond jewelry, classified
under heading 7102 or 7113 of the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States, other than dia-
mond jewelry not exceeding $25,000 in value im-
ported by or on account of a person for personal use
and accompanying that person upon entry into the
United States.
(2) ROUGH DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘rough dia-
monds’’ means diamonds that are unworked, or sim-
ply sawn, cleaved, or bruted, classified under head-
ing 7102 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States.
(3) 
UNITED
STATES.—The 
term 
‘‘United
States’’, when used in the geographic sense, means
the several States, the District of Columbia, and any
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United
States.
SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE AND WAIVERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection
(b), this Act shall take effect on the date that is 6 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The President may waive
the applicability of this Act with respect to a country for
a period of not more than 6 months if the President, be-
fore granting the waiver—
(1) determines that the country is making sig-
nificant progress toward concluding an international
agreement described in section 8 or is implementing
the system of controls on the export and import of
rough diamonds described in section 3(a); and
(2) transmits that determination, with the rea-
sons therefor, to the Congress.
Æ