The World Diamond Council’s new System of Warranties (SoW) has entered the beta-testing phase, with the participation of a representative sample of companies from across the diamond supply chain. This is the ultimate stage of an extensive review that will conclude at the end of the calendar year. The final adjustments and fine-tuning will take place before the official launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.To implement the new SoW, about 200 large, medium and smaller sized companies across the supply chain were invited to introduce the new system into their organizations and review.
While the primary objectives of the SoW are to extend the effectiveness of the KPCS from the mine through to the jewelry retailer; the revised SoW still requires that all buyers and sellers of rough diamonds, polished diamonds and jewelry containing diamonds include a statement on B2B invoice and memos declaring that the goods being sold comply with the KPCS.
However, the revised statement also includes a commitment that the buyers and sellers adhere to the WDC SoW Guidelines. These were adopted by WDC in 2018 and updated in 2020, as part of the review process to support universally accepted principles of human and labor rights, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering (AML), following the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the UN Convention Against Corruption, and national AML guidelines that comply with the FATF’s 40 Recommendations on Money Laundering for Dealers in Precious Metals and Stones.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
