India to lead reform process of Kimberley Certification Scheme

India has been selected as the Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Review & Reforms to look into various issues pertaining to the the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
The Kimberley Process is a joint initiative of governments, industry and civil societies to stem flow of 'conflict diamonds', the rough diamonds used by rebel groups to finance wars against legitimate governments.
A delegation comprising of Government officials and Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) representatives led by Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce attended the KP Plenary Session at Brisbane, Australia from December 9-14.
"At the Brisbane Plenary, India was selected as Chair for the Ad Hoc Committee on Review & Reforms (AHCRR) to reform the process for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme," an official statement said.

Angola will be the Vice Chair of this Adhoc Committee and will work with India and other members of the Committee on the reform issues related to changes in core document, expansion of scope of the KP, permanent secretariat office, multi donor fund issues etc.
According to the statement, the Indian representation at the Brisbane meet emphasised on the guidelines for reconciliation in the working group on statistics and framework for information sharing in KPCS to eradicate the scourge of forged certificates of KPCS and to make it more secured.

"India proposed a system of procedure to make the peer review visits more professional and administratively efficient," the Commerce Ministry statement said.

Moreover, members were encouraged for introduction of measures of enforcement like My KYC Bank to enhance responsible sourcing in terms of ensuring financial transparency and giving technological solutions for differentiation between natural and lab grown diamonds by introducing affordable machines for detection to the industry.
India was appointed as the Kimberly Process (KP) Vice Chair for 2018 & Chair for 2019 in the last plenary held in Dubai in November, 2016. The EU will be KP Chair for 2018.
The Kimberley Process is also described in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. The KPCS came into effect from 1 January, 2003 and evolved into an effective mechanism for stopping the trade in conflict diamonds.

India is the founding member of KPCS. At present, KPCS has 54 members representing 81 countries including the EU with 28 members. India is one of the founding members of the KPCS and was Chair of the KPCS for the year 2008.