The World Diamond Council (WDC) has called upon stakeholders  encouraging them to  review the System of Warranties (SoW) before  its public review period -- which began on June 5, 2018 --    ends on October 1, 2018.

“This review period is intended to help industry participants better implement and demonstrate commitment to responsible sourcing when buying or selling rough and polished diamonds,” the WDC stated.

Stephane Fischler, President of the WDC, said: “Public review of the SoW is crucial to ensuring a transparent process as we continue to uphold our promise to customers that they can trust that the diamonds they purchase have been sourced responsibly.   We look forward to receiving comments from our stakeholders that reflect our commitment to upholding the integrity in the global diamond supply chain.”

The WDC clarified that the purpose of the SoW reforms is to “establish a new level of adherence for members”. The  new SoW reforms, which  are planned to be implemented beginning in 2019, call on users of SoW statements “to ensure their trading activities maintain strict adherence of universally accepted principles on human and labour rights, anticorruption, and anti‐money laundering in support of the mandatory Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) implementation”.

The SoW review and reform process is part of the WDC Strategic Plan. The WDC said a draft of the SoW Guidelines and a paper explaining the Reform of the SoW are also available.