Notice to All
U.S. Principal Parties, Forwarding Agents, Consolidators, and All Others Concerned

Advanced Notice of Request for Faxed Submission of Kimberley Process Certificates

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November 8, 2005

From: William G. Bostic, Jr.
Chief, Foreign Trade Division

Subject: Advanced Notice of Request for Faxed Submission of Kimberley
Process Certificates

The U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau) is responsible for collecting, compiling, and publishing export and import trade statistics for the United States under the provisions of
Title 13, United States Code, Chapter 9, Section 301; and Title 15, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 30. Also, under the Clean Diamond Trade Act (Act), Public Law 108-19, the Census Bureau was designated as the export authority for controlling information on rough diamonds that are exported from the United States according to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (Kimberley Process) as defined in the Act. The Census Bureau has issued regulations for submitting export information though the Automated Export System (AES) for export shipments of rough diamonds classified under harmonized system subheadings: 7102.10, 7102.21, and 7102.31.

During the past several years the Census Bureau has been reviewing the statistical information submitted through the AES and the information collected from the Kimberley Process Certificate (KPC) for exports on file with the United States Kimberley Process Authority. The Census Bureau has identified discrepancies between the two sets of information. Therefore, the Census Bureau has been working with participant countries in the Kimberley Process to reconcile differences in the respective bilateral import and export statistics. We have been unable to resolve many of the discrepancies. Therefore, under the provisions of the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (FTSR), Title 15, CFR, Section 30.11, the Census Bureau is providing advanced notice to USPPIs, authorized agents, carriers and others involved in the export of rough diamonds of the forthcoming requirement to fax copies of the KPC to the Census Bureau.

In the next few weeks, the Census Bureau will notify exporters of the effective date to start faxing their certificates. Once this process begins, USPPIs and others involved in the process of exporting rough diamonds will be required to immediately provide faxes to the Census Bureau of KPCs that correspond with electronic export information that has been filed in the AES for individual shipments prior to export.

Every effort must be made by all related parties in these transactions to comply with the provisions contained in the FTSR, Title 15, CFR, Part 30. If you have any questions concerning these requirements, please contact Mr. Jerome Greenwell, Chief, Regulations, Outreach, and Education Branch, Foreign Trade Division, on 301-763-2238.