107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2722
AN ACT
To implement effective measures to stop trade in
conflict diamonds, and for other purposes.
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2722
AN ACT
To implement effective measures to stop trade in conflict
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 Diamond Trade
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Funds derived from the sale of rough dia-
monds are being used by rebels and state actors to
finance military activities, overthrow legitimate gov-
ernments, 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, An-
gola, 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 thou-
sands have fled to the United States. Approximately
3,700,000 people have died during these wars.
(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 also
by terrible human rights violations.
(3) Human rights advocates, the diamond trade
as represented by the World Diamond Council, and
the United States Government recently began work-
ing to block the trade in conflict diamonds. Their ef-
forts have helped to build a consensus that action is
urgently needed to end the trade in conflict dia-
monds.
(4) The United Nations Security Council has
acted at various times under chapter VII of the
Charter of the United Nations to address threats to
international peace and security posed by conflicts
linked to diamonds. Through these actions, it has
prohibited all states from exporting weapons to cer-
tain countries affected by such conflicts. It has fur-
ther required all states to prohibit the direct and in-
direct import of rough diamonds from Angola and
Sierra Leone unless the diamonds are controlled
under specified certificate of origin regimes and to
prohibit absolutely for a period of 12 months the di-
rect and indirect import of rough diamonds from Li-
beria.
(5) In response, the United States implemented
sanctions restricting the importation of rough dia-
monds from Angola and Sierra Leone to those dia-
monds accompanied by specified certificates of origin
and fully prohibiting the importation of rough dia-
monds from Liberia. In order to put an end to the
emergency situation in international relations, to
maintain international peace and security, and to
protect its essential security interests, and pursuant
to its obligations under the United Nations Charter,
the United States is now taking further action
against trade in conflict diamonds.
(6) Without effective action to eliminate trade
in conflict diamonds, the trade in legitimate dia-
monds faces the threat of a consumer backlash that
could damage the economies of countries not in-
volved 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 30 other countries are involved in working,
through the ‘‘Kimberley Process’’, toward devising a
solution to this problem. As the consumer of a ma-
jority of the world’s supply of diamonds, the United
States has an obligation to help sever the link be-
tween diamonds and conflict and press for imple-
mentation of an effective solution.
(7) Failure to curtail the trade in conflict dia-
monds or to differentiate between the trade in con-
flict diamonds and the trade in legitimate diamonds
could have a severe negative impact on the legiti-
mate diamond trade in countries such as Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania.
(8) Initiatives of the United States seek to re-
solve the regional conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa
which facilitate the trade in conflict diamonds.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) CONFLICT DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘conflict
diamonds’’ means rough diamonds the import of
which is prohibited by United Nations Security
Council Resolutions because that trade is fueling
conflict.
(2) DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘diamonds’’ means
diamonds classifiable under subheading 7102.31.00
or subheading 7102.39.00 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States.
(3) POLISHED DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘polished
diamonds’’ means diamonds classifiable under sub-
heading 7102.39.00 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States.
(4) ROUGH DIAMONDS.—The term ‘‘rough dia-
monds’’ means diamonds that are unworked, or sim-
ply sawn, cleaved, or bruted, classifiable under sub-
heading 7102.31.00 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States.
(5) 
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. 4. MEASURES TO PREVENT IMPORTS OF CONFLICT
DIAMONDS.
(a) AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT.—The President
may prohibit, in whole or in part, imports of rough dia-
monds into the United States from any country that does
not take effective measures to stop trade in conflict dia-
monds as long as the prohibition is—
(1) necessary to protect the essential security
interests of the United States, or pursuant to United
Nations Security Council Resolutions on conflict dia-
monds; and
(2) consistent with the foreign policy interests
of the United States, including the international ob-
ligations of the United States.
(b) EFFECTIVE MEASURES.—For purposes of this
Act, effective measures are measures that—
(1) meet the requirements of United Nations
Security Council Resolutions on trade in conflict dia-
monds;
(2) meet the requirements of an international
arrangement on conflict diamonds as long as the
measures also meet the requirements of United Na-
tions Security Council Resolutions on trade in con-
flict diamonds; or
(3) contain the following elements, or their
functional equivalent, if such elements are sufficient
to meet the requirements of United Nations Security
Council Resolutions on trade in conflict diamonds:
(A) With respect to exports from countries
where rough diamonds are extracted, secure
packaging, accompanied by officially validated
documentation certifying the country of origin,
total carat weight, and value.
(B) With respect to exports from countries
where rough diamonds are extracted, a system
of verifiable controls on rough diamonds from
mine to export.
(C) With respect to countries that reexport
rough diamonds, a system of controls designed
to ensure that no conflict diamonds have en-
tered the legitimate trade in rough diamonds.
(D) Verifiable recordkeeping by all compa-
nies and individuals engaged in mining, import,
and export of rough diamonds within the terri-
tory of the exporting country, subject to inspec-
tion and verification by authorized government
authorities in accordance with national regula-
tions.
(E) Government publication on a periodic
basis of official rough diamond export and im-
port statistics.
(F) Implementation of proportionate and
dissuasive penalties against any persons who
violate laws and regulations designed to combat
trade in conflict diamonds.
(G) Full cooperation with the United Na-
tions or other official international bodies exam-
ining the trade in conflict diamonds, especially
with respect to any inspection and monitoring
of the trade in rough diamonds.
(c) EXCLUSIONS.—The provisions of this section do
not apply to—
(1) rough diamonds imported by or on behalf of
a person for personal use and accompanying a per-
son upon entry into the United States;
(2) rough diamonds previously exported from
the United States and reimported by the same im-
porter, without having been advanced in value or im-
proved in condition by any process or other means
while abroad, if the importer declares that the re-
importation of the rough diamonds satisfies the re-
quirements of this paragraph; or
(3) rough diamonds for which the importer pro-
vides evidence to the satisfaction of the United
States Customs Service (or analogous officials of a
territory or possession of the United States with its
own customs administration) that the importation
does not include conflict diamonds.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF POLISHED DIAMONDS AND JEW-
ELRY.
The President may prohibit specific entries of pol-
ished diamonds and jewelry containing diamonds if the
President has credible evidence that such polished dia-
monds and jewelry were produced with conflict diamonds.
SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT.
Diamonds and jewelry containing diamonds imported
into the United States in violation of any prohibition im-
posed under section 4 or 5 are subject to the seizure and
forfeiture laws, and all criminal and civil laws of the
United States shall apply, to the same extent as any other
violation of the customs and navigation laws of the United
States.
SEC. 7. REPORTS.
(a) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than one year
after the effective date of this Act, and every 12 months
thereafter, the President shall transmit to Congress a
report—
(1) describing actions taken by countries that
have exported rough diamonds to the United States
during the preceding 12-month period to implement
effective measures to stop trade in conflict dia-
monds;
(2) identifying those countries that have ex-
ported rough diamonds to the United States during
the preceding 12-month period and are not imple-
menting effective measures to stop trade in conflict
diamonds and whose failure to do so has signifi-
cantly increased the likelihood that conflict dia-
monds are being imported into the United States;
(3) describing appropriate actions, which may
include actions under sections 4 and 5, that may be
taken by the United States, or actions that may be
taken or are being taken by each country identified
under paragraph (2), to ensure that conflict dia-
monds are not being imported into the United States
from such country; and
(4) identifying any additional countries involved
in conflicts linked to rough diamonds that are not
the subject of United Nations Security Council Res-
olutions on conflict diamonds.
(b) SEMIANNUAL REPORTS.—For each country iden-
tified in subsection (a)(2), the President shall, every 6
months after the initial report in which the country was
identified, transmit to Congress a report that explains
what actions have been taken by the United States or such
country since the previous report to ensure that conflict
diamonds are not being imported from that country into
the United States. The requirement to issue a semiannual
report with respect to a country under this subsection
shall remain in effect until such time as the country imple-
ments effective measures.
SEC. 8. GAO REPORT.
Not later than 3 years after the effective date of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
transmit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the
provisions of this Act in preventing the importation of con-
flict diamonds under section 4. The Comptroller General
shall include in the report any recommendations on any
modifications to this Act that may be necessary.
SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) INTERNATIONAL ARRANGEMENT.—It is the sense
of Congress that the President should take the necessary
steps to negotiate an international arrangement, working
in concert with the Kimberley Process referred to in sec-
tion 2(6), to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds. Such
an international arrangement should create an effective
global system of controls covering countries that export
and import rough diamonds, and should contain the ele-
ments described in section 4(b)(3).
(b) ADDITIONAL
SECURITY
COUNCIL
RESOLU-
TIONS.—It is the sense of Congress that the President
should take the necessary steps to seek United Nations
Security Council Resolutions with respect to trade in dia-
monds from additional countries identified under section
7(a)(4).
(c) TRADE IN LEGITIMATE DIAMONDS.—It is the
sense of Congress that the provisions of this Act should
not impede the trade in legitimate diamonds with coun-
tries which are working constructively to eliminate trade
in conflict diamonds, including through the negotiation of
an effective international arrangement to eliminate trade
in conflict diamonds.
(d) IMPLEMENTATION OF EFFECTIVE MEASURES.—
It is the sense of Congress that companies involved in dia-
mond extraction and trade should make financial contribu-
tions to countries seeking to implement any effective
measures to stop trade in conflict diamonds described in
section 4(b), if those countries would have financial dif-
ficulty implementing those measures.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Presi-
dent $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003
to provide assistance to countries seeking to implement
any effective measures to stop trade in conflict diamonds
described in section 4(b), if those countries would have
financial difficulty implementing those measures.
SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives November 28,
2001.
Attest:
Clerk.