Founded in 1947 as a body that would unite diamond exchanges under one roof, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) would come to provide a common set of trading practices for bourses trading in rough and polished diamonds, as well as coloured stones.
There are today twenty eight affiliated bourses throughout the world and the object of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses is to protect their interests and their individual members, and to arbitrate between the affiliated bourses and their individual members. It is the aim of the world federation to participate in the promotion of world trade and to encourage the establishment of bourses, wherever diamonds are actively traded.
Members of the affiliated bourses pledge themselves to uphold traditions, principles of mutual trust, consideration and friendship that prevail among the members of the bourses world-wide.
In 1975, the WFDB and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (lDMA) created a joint committee to create an international standard for diamond grading rules, working methods and nomenclature. The joint committee later changed its name to the International Diamond Council (IDC) and adopted the following basic principles:
A set of internationally recognized standards that should be applicable in the same way all over the world. Working methods for applying these standards should be normalized too. This is necessary in order to arrive at uniform certificates. In 1978, at the 19th World Diamond Congress in Amsterdam, the IDC presented the general assemblies of the WFDB and IDMA: the International Rules for Grading Polished Diamonds. The system was unanimously accepted, and since then has been implemented by major diamond labs.
In July 2000, the WFDB and the IDMA met in Antwerp. High on the organisation’s agenda was the need to develop an industry-wide response to the problem of rough diamonds being used by rebel groups in parts of Africa to finance civil war. During the meeting, a resolution was passed to create the World Diamond Council (WDC).
The resolution called for the WDC to develop and implement a tracking system for the export and import of rough diamonds to prevent diamonds being exploited for illegal purposes. As a result of the commitment and resolve of WDC leaders and members, significant strides have been made toward resolving and reconciling these issues.
The development and implementation of the Kimberley Process, for example, has reduced the flow of conflict diamonds in the marketplace from approximately 4 percent to significantly less than 1 percent. While the number of conflict diamonds has been reduced, and this is an improvement, it is still not enough.
The diamond industry will continue its efforts until conflict diamonds are eradicated completely. The World Diamond Council today represents over 50 industry organizations – from mining companies and trade associations to manufacturers and retailers – worldwide.
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