ANNUAL REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS 2007
TURKEY

GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT

Turkey’s participation to Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was approved by the Law Number 5244 dated 27th October 2004 and the international agreement concerning KPCS was approved by the Decree number 2005/8518 dated 21st February 2005 by the Council of Ministers and it was issued on the Official Gazette, number 25750, dated 9th March 2005.
The Decree number 2006/11115 concerning the Regulation and Supervision of Rough Diamond Foreign Trade which was prepared by Under-Secretariat of Treasury was issued on the Official Gazette, number 2632, dated 31st October 2006. The Communiqué number 2006/1 concerning the Decree was issued on the Official Gazette, number 26437, dated 15th November 2006.
As clearly stated at the Communiqué and Decree, Istanbul Gold Exchange is authorized to conduct import and export of rough diamonds within the framework of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, to review the submitted certificates whether they have the necessary requirements, to have confirmation of certificates from the participant country’s export authority and to issue certificates concerning rough diamonds to be exported.
After the admittance of Turkey as 47th member of Kimberley Process as of 14th August 2007, the system requires complete fulfillment of internal and international regulations, development of internal controls and cooperation between related parties. The rough diamonds that are brought to Turkey can not be cleared through the customs without a letter of conformity written by Istanbul Gold Exchange to the Customs Directorate after the controls and reviews of Exchange officials. The rough diamonds can only be imported to Turkey by Ataturk Airport Customs Directorate.
After the negotiations between governmental organizations it was decided that the same procedure will be applied to rough diamonds brought to Turkey by Ataturk Airport Free Zone beginning from 2008. Istanbul Gold Exchange is authorized to review the rough diamonds at Ataturk Airport Free Zone and it issues a letter of conformity for these.
The Exchange informs Kimberley Secretariat every three months about the statistics of rough diamonds that are imported with the approval of Istanbul Gold Exchange.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDANCE ON IMPORTS OF ROUGH DIAMONDS ACCORDING TO KIMBERLEY PROCESS CERTIFICATION SCHEME

The following procedures are followed during the import of rough diamonds with the Harmonized system classifications 7102.10, 7102.21 and 7102.31 according to Kimberley Process Certification Scheme:

1) After the submission of import documents to Istanbul Gold Exchange by the import company, the confirmation of the certificate is obtained from the related export authority by requesting e-mail (using kimberley@iab.gov.tr address). The export authority’s e-mail address is checked from the Kimberley Process web site’s “Participant’s Part” section that includes contact information of the member countries with a password given to Istanbul Gold Exchange.

2) The Exchange officials visit to the warehouse where rough diamonds are stored under the authority of Istanbul Ataturk Airport Customs Directorate. Exchange officials physically inspect the diamonds in front of customs officials and customs counselor acts on behalf of the importer firm. Istanbul Gold Exchange officials physically inspect the imported rough diamond comparing with the detailed invoice and take into account whether there is a destruction on the package and on the seal. They also compare the data given by the export authority with the data on the certificate and on the package of rough diamond.

3) The rough diamonds can be sent to laboratories for the expertise if it is required by the Exchange officials.

4) After checking of the rough diamonds, the original Kimberley Certificate is removed from the package and kept by Istanbul Gold Exchange officials for storage. The rough diamonds are resealed with the seal of Customs Directorate and delivered to the warehouse operates under Customs Directorate for storage.

5) The letter of conformity which confirms this rough diamond import is written by the Exchange to the Customs Directorate and it is given to the customs counselor acts on behalf of the importer firm. The letter of conformity is also faxed to the Customs Directorate so that the importer who has fulfilled other requirements can clear the rough diamonds through the customs.

6) The copies of rough diamond import documents are taken by the Istanbul Gold Exchange to be stored in the related file.

7) The import confirmation part of the certificate is filled and signed by the Exchange authority and then sent to the Export Authority both by e-mail that contains an attachment of scanned import confirmation form and by mail that contains the original document.

8) All documents concerning this rough diamond import including the original Kimberley Certificate are stored in the file classified for this import and the data is processed to the computer allocated for the Kimberley Process.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDANCE ON EXPORTS OF ROUGH DIAMONDS ACCORDING TO KIMBERLEY PROCESS CERTIFICATION SCHEME

The export of rough diamonds according to Kimberley Process is supervised by Istanbul Gold Exchange. During this process Istanbul Gold Exchange requires expertise report for the rough diamonds. The exporter should also provide that the rough diamonds are imported in accordance with Kimberley Process or officially produced in Turkey. The rough diamonds have to be exported to Kimberley Process Certification Scheme Participants.
After the procedures are completed a certificate concerning these rough diamonds is issued by Istanbul Gold Exchange, for export. Rough diamonds are placed in a package with a seal. Istanbul Gold Exchange also writes a letter of conformity which states that the export is in accordance with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and the exporter has to submit this letter to Customs Directorate for the export.
The import authority is also informed by an e-mail which contains the certificate information sent from the kimberley@iab.gov.tr address of Istanbul Gold Exchange.

COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS

Istanbul Gold Exchange cooperates with Under-Secretariat and Ataturk Airport Customs Directorate while implementing the Kimberley Process. The regulations and Communique concerning Kimberley Process Certification Scheme are prepared in cooperation with Under-Secretariat of Treasury. The statistics which are submitted to Kimberley Secretariat every three months are also submitted to Under-Secretariat of Treasury.
Istanbul Gold Exchange is authorized to demand any documents concerning the import of rough diamonds from the Ataturk Airport Customs Directorate, besides the imported rough diamonds with the Harmonized System Classification 7102.10, 7102.21 and 7102.31 can only be cleared from the warehouse that operates under the authority of Ataturk Airport Customs Directorate by a letter of conformity issued by Istanbul Gold Exchange.

ROUGH DIAMOND IMPORT STATISTICS OF 2007 AFTER TURKEY’S PARTICIPATION TO KIMBERLEY PROCESS