Notice to all Importers, U.S. Customs Brokers, Forwarding Agents, 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 import and export 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. Under the Clean Diamond Trade Act (Act), Public Law 108-19, the Federal Government is directed by Congress to continue to keep statistics on imports and exports of rough diamonds under subheadings 7102.10, 7102.21, and 7102.31 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is designated the importing authority under the Act and provides the Census Bureau with import information from which the trade statistics are compiled.

During the past several years the Census Bureau has been working with participant countries in the Kimberley Process to reconcile differences in the respective bilateral import and export statistics. However, 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 30.70, the Census Bureau is providing an advanced notice to importers and others involved in the process of importing rough diamonds of the forthcoming requirement to fax copies of the Kimberley Process Certificate (KPC) to the Census Bureau.

In the next few weeks, the Census Bureau will notify importers of the effective date to start faxing their certificates. Once this process begins, importers and brokers will be required to immediately provide faxes of their KPCs to the Census Bureau upon clearance of their shipments into the commerce of the United States by CBP.

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.