Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should take steps to negotiate an international agreement to eliminate the trade in diamonds used to support conflict in the regions in which such diamonds are mined.
Provides a waiver for the requirements of this Act.
[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5564 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5564
To prohibit the importation of diamonds unless the countries exporting
the diamonds to the United States have in place certain controls to
verify the source of the diamonds, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 26, 2000
Mr. Hall of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Wolf, and Ms. McKinney) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the importation of diamonds unless the countries exporting
the diamonds to the United States have in place certain controls to
verify the source of the diamonds, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Conflict Diamonds Elimination Act of
2000''.
SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTATION OF DIAMONDS.
(a) Restrictions.--Diamonds may not be imported into the United
States unless the country exporting the diamonds to the United States
is either implementing a system of controls on the export and import of
rough diamonds or is a signatory to an international agreement, or a
participant in an international arrangement, that establishes a system
of controls on the export and import of rough diamonds. Such a system
of controls may include the following:
(1)(A) The diamonds, when exported from the country in
which they were mined, were sealed in a secure container by
appropriate government officials of that country.
(B) The sealed container includes a government document
that certifies the country as the country of origin of the
diamonds and includes a unique export registration number for
the diamonds and the total carat weight of the diamonds.
(C) Appropriate government officials have entered into a
database controlled by the government the export registration
number for the diamonds and the total carat weight of the
diamonds.
(2) Any country importing the diamonds prior to polishing
or other processing--
(A) permits importation of the diamonds only in a
container described in paragraph (1); and
(B) verifies, by electronic or other reliable means
of verification, the information set forth in the
export document included in the sealed container in
which the diamonds were shipped.
(b) Monitoring.--The President shall ensure that the system of
controls described in subsection (a) is either monitored by an
appropriate agency of the United States or, in the case of a system of
controls established by an international agreement or arrangement, by
an organization specified in the agreement or arrangement.
SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT.
The President shall transmit to the Congress, not later than
September 30th of each year, a report describing and evaluating the
system of controls on trade in diamonds described in section 2(a) and
identifying those countries that are implementing such controls.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that the President should take the
necessary steps to negotiate an international agreement or arrangement
to eliminate the trade in diamonds used to support conflict in the
regions in which the diamonds are mined.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE AND WAIVERS.
(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act
shall take effect 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Delay in Effective Date.--If, not later than the end of the 6-
month period described in subsection (a), the President--
(1) determines that a system of controls on the export and
import of rough diamonds has not been implemented by exporting
countries (as described in section 2(a)), and that an
international agreement or arrangement that establishes a
system of controls on the export and import of rough diamonds
(as described in section 2(a)) has not been concluded, and
(2) transmits that determination to the Congress, together
with a description of the progress in the implementation of
such a system by exporting countries and in concluding such an
agreement or arrangement,
then this Act shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment
of this Act.
(c) Waiver Authority.--The President may waive the applicability of
this Act with respect to a country for periods of not more than 6
months each if the President, before granting each waiver--
(1) determines that the country is making significant
progress toward concluding an international agreement or
arrangement establishing, or is otherwise implementing, a
system of controls on the export and import of rough diamonds
described in section 2(a)); and
(2) transmits that determination, with the reasons
therefor, to the Congress.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
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