Big Week for Diamonds: KP Reform

It may not feel like it, but this could be a consequential week for the diamond industry. The Kimberley Process (KP) plenary is taking place in Dubai, with several long-running issues on the agenda, having reached a stage where they demand resolution.

The sense of urgency comes partly from the UAE’s two-year chairmanship drawing to a close. Its term brought rare stability, structure, and focus to a role that usually rotates annually and too often lacks those elements. The UAE’s KP chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem might push to cement some of the UAE’s initiatives to ensure continuity within the scheme.

Image: Feriel Zerouki addresses the KP Plenary in Dubai (WDC).

The World Diamond Council (WDC), which represents the industry at the KP, is also approaching a leadership transition, with Feriel Zerouki set to step down as president in May 2026. The WDC is likely to press extra hard to lock in several initiatives shaped during her tenure.

Top of that list is the long-debated expansion of the conflict-diamonds definition. The current, decades-old wording covers only rough diamonds used by rebel groups in civil wars. The WDC, civil society and others want it broadened to include diamonds produced under other problematic conditions, including systematic or widespread violence and human-rights abuses. Conflicting political interests among member states, coupled with the KP’s requirement for full consensus, have blocked previous drafts, yet there’s growing belief this could finally be the year.

Digitizing KP certificates is the other major item to watch. The UAE ran a proof-of-concept last year, so the KP now needs to shift from pilot to implementation, agree on standards, and ensure every country can adopt the system.

If implemented properly, digital certificates would strengthen the KP’s relevance within the industry’s broader traceability and source-verification push.

This blog first appeared in the November 17 Pressing Matters Executive Memo. Read the full memo here, Pressing Matters, featuring the following sections:

• What I'm Watching: Sotheby’s on Cartier’s ‘La Panthère’

• What I'm Reading: Deloitte’s Holiday Report

• Survey

• Industry Voices

• The News That Matters

• Chart Check: Richemont’s jewelry sales

• Coming Up

• Pic of the Week: Geneva’s Auction Stars

  
  

  

  Image: The top lots across all Geneva auctions last week. (Credit: Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips).