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The marketing arm of the world’s largest diamond company is now including specific ethical provisions in contracts with companies that supply it with stones. The Diamond Trading Company (DTC), which is part of De Beers Group, is insisting that from this summer suppliers follow its best practice principles or risk losing contracts.
The principles, which were drawn up in 2000, state that it is ‘unacceptable’ for suppliers to source diamonds in a way that causes ‘injury and hardship’, particularly in areas where revenue from the sale of stones finances local conflicts.
They forbid suppliers from buying and trading rough diamonds sourced from areas ‘where this would encourage or support conflict and human suffering’, and they outlaw child labour or practices that ‘intentionally or recklessly endanger or harm the health and welfare of individuals’.
The DTC values and retails around two-thirds of the world’s rough diamonds on the market.
Suppliers are also required to provide ‘proper’ working conditions in diamond mines, ‘complying with international best practice on the environment’ and to fully disclose the origins of stones.
Simon Gilbert, DTC group director of external affairs, said: ‘By July, if you want to be a DTC client, you have to subscribe to the best practice principles and be open to an audit. These principles are no longer in development; they are happening in practice.’
DTC has already given clients a period of grace to familiarize themselves with the principles. From July this year, the international auditing company SGS will monitor suppliers, who will be required annually to complete ‘workbooks’ confirming their compliance. When completed, these will be verified by SGS and subjected to further review by another audit body.
Suppliers that do not meet the requirements will have to implement ‘corrective action plans’ monitored by SGS, although DTC emphasizes it wants ‘continuous and unwavering improvement ... rather than immediate penalization’, and contracts will be severed only for the most serious breaches.
Gilbert told EP: ‘Our clients all ought to be aware of the principles. We’ve issued workbooks to them all and held seminars and workshops, and now it’s time for them to ensure that they are complying.’
DTC says the new clauses are needed to maintain consumer confidence. Sections of the industry have been criticized in recent years for sourcing diamonds from Sierra Leone and other conflict zones.
Susie Saunders, of the campaigning group Global Witness, which has attacked the industry over the sourcing of stones, gave the DTC initiative a cautious welcome. ‘The company has taken positive steps on industry self-regulation and has led the industry in having its stocks in London independently audited,’ she told EP. However, she added: ‘The principles sound good, but the company needs to audit them properly and have clear penalties for breaches. I’m not convinced this will happen.’
The principles, which were drawn up in 2000, state that it is ‘unacceptable’ for suppliers to source diamonds in a way that causes ‘injury and hardship’, particularly in areas where revenue from the sale of stones finances local conflicts.
They forbid suppliers from buying and trading rough diamonds sourced from areas ‘where this would encourage or support conflict and human suffering’, and they outlaw child labour or practices that ‘intentionally or recklessly endanger or harm the health and welfare of individuals’.
The DTC values and retails around two-thirds of the world’s rough diamonds on the market.
Suppliers are also required to provide ‘proper’ working conditions in diamond mines, ‘complying with international best practice on the environment’ and to fully disclose the origins of stones.
Simon Gilbert, DTC group director of external affairs, said: ‘By July, if you want to be a DTC client, you have to subscribe to the best practice principles and be open to an audit. These principles are no longer in development; they are happening in practice.’
DTC has already given clients a period of grace to familiarize themselves with the principles. From July this year, the international auditing company SGS will monitor suppliers, who will be required annually to complete ‘workbooks’ confirming their compliance. When completed, these will be verified by SGS and subjected to further review by another audit body.
Suppliers that do not meet the requirements will have to implement ‘corrective action plans’ monitored by SGS, although DTC emphasizes it wants ‘continuous and unwavering improvement ... rather than immediate penalization’, and contracts will be severed only for the most serious breaches.
Gilbert told EP: ‘Our clients all ought to be aware of the principles. We’ve issued workbooks to them all and held seminars and workshops, and now it’s time for them to ensure that they are complying.’
DTC says the new clauses are needed to maintain consumer confidence. Sections of the industry have been criticized in recent years for sourcing diamonds from Sierra Leone and other conflict zones.
Susie Saunders, of the campaigning group Global Witness, which has attacked the industry over the sourcing of stones, gave the DTC initiative a cautious welcome. ‘The company has taken positive steps on industry self-regulation and has led the industry in having its stocks in London independently audited,’ she told EP. However, she added: ‘The principles sound good, but the company needs to audit them properly and have clear penalties for breaches. I’m not convinced this will happen.’
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