Rapaport Ethical Certification

The world diamond industry is at a crossroads. The Kimberley Process, long trusted to prevent the flow of conflict diamonds, is unable to guarantee that diamonds on the world market are free of human rights abuses and are ethical according to today’s standards. Without an effective system to monitor and avoid diamonds associated with human rights abuses, the diamond and jewelry industry has been left with few places to turn for ethical and conflict-free goods.

Rapaport recognizes this void and has stepped up to the challenge of creating a diamond certification system to ensure against human rights abuses. Rapaport Ethical Certification is a third-party verified monitoring system which follows diamonds all the way from the mine to jewelry store, checking for human rights abuses and other ethical issues along the supply chain.

Rapaport Ethical Certification begins at the mine, where human rights conditions must meet the Rapaport Ethical Certification standards. In compliant mines, exported goods are checked by invoice verification and physical inspection to ensure they match inventory. After the goods enter a cutting and polishing plant, they are followed throughout their transformation from rough to polished using existing monitoring software and barcodes. Then the diamonds leave the plants and are sent for grading and Sarin inspection.

Once the diamonds are set and sold to a consumer, they are trackable via a unique identification number. This number can be entered online and the consumer can follow the story of their diamond all the way back to the mine.

If you are a diamond supplier and would like to be evaluated for Rapaport Ethical Certification, please contact us at ethicalcert@diamonds.net for an initial conversation and assessment.