Draft Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

James Cleverly Excerpts

Tuesday 5th February 2019 General Committees

[The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Evans.

During the 1990s, the trade in conflict diamonds was a significant cause of instability, particularly in Africa. The Kimberley process certification scheme is an important tool for reducing conflict in Africa and elsewhere. Great strides have been made since its inception in 2002. Today, more than 99% of the global supply chain of rough diamonds is certified as conflict-free.

From the beginning of the Kimberley process, the UK has been represented by the European Union. Together with our European partners and other participants, the UK has been active in support of the Kimberley process and its principles: increasing transparency, ensuring that trade is limited to Kimberley process participants, and applying effective controls.

The Kimberley process is not a treaty and has no basis in international law. It is simply a grouping of interested states known as the “participants”, which have decided to enact domestically the same process for verifying the trade in rough diamonds at their borders. They then made the political decision to permit the trade in rough diamonds only with similarly minded states within the Kimberley process. Its legal effect, therefore, comes from domestic legislation. Hence, if we are to continue to participate in the process after we leave the EU, as we intend, the draft regulations are essential.

As Members will be aware, until 29 March 2019 the UK remains a full member state and is subject to all the rights and obligations of EU membership. Those include trade arrangements that fall within the EU’s common commercial policy, such as the Kimberley process. Under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, we have agreed with the EU that it will notify international partners that the UK is to be treated as a member state during the implementation period. That would mean that the UK continues to participate, represented by the EU, and that the UK trade in Kimberley process-compliant rough diamonds would continue.

In the event that we are unable to enter an implementation period, our participation through the EU would end. UK trade would be frozen until our application for participation was approved by the other participants in the Kimberley process. In either case, this draft legislation will ensure that we continue to comply with the requirements of the Kimberley process. It will secure our borders, prevent any non-compliant rough diamonds entering the UK supply chain and send a strong message to would-be smugglers that the UK is not a recipient of conflict diamonds.

[James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

May I first explain the logic fully? Perhaps my hon. Friend will save his comments for later in the Committee sitting, when I shall be happy to answer.

The draft regulations will also reassure the Kimberley process bodies of the UK’s commitment to the scheme ahead of our application for independent participation. The instrument does not undermine the wider EU withdrawal negotiations, nor does it assume no deal. Instead, it lays the groundwork for our future relationship with, and independent participation in, the Kimberley process. That matters because maintaining our relationship with the process is an intrinsic element of our international commitment to conflict prevention. It is also pivotal to how we support UK business to operate responsibly in post-conflict and difficult environments.

In 2017, the UK’s exports in rough diamonds outside the EU were valued at £67 million. We expect that to continue. The Government Diamond Office implements the Kimberley process in the UK and works closely with Border Force to ensure that we meet the minimum standards set by the process.

As an EU member state, we are a well-respected participant in the Kimberley process, and we expect to remain so as an independent participant. We have already informed the EU of our intention to initiate our application. Demonstrating that we have appropriate legislation in place is a fundamental part of that application process. That is the purpose of the instrument, which, once passed, will apply even if we are not a participant immediately at the point that the UK leaves the European Union or after any implementation period.

I welcome the opportunity to hear any comments. The regulations are essential to the process I have described and I commend them to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

I have family from Sierra Leone; it was the place of my mother’s birth. The country was racked with conflict, in large part driven by the illegal diamond trade. Does the Minister agree that this statutory instrument not only helps to ensure that the trade in illegal rough diamonds is curtailed, but sends a powerful signal to our international friends and partners that, irrespective of our membership of the EU, the UK stands by its moral commitments to some of the poorest countries in the world? By passing this statutory instrument, the UK Government will be sending a very powerful signal to Sierra Leone, in particular, which has a longstanding relationship with this country, that we take its plight seriously and that we are doing everything we can to ensure that conflict does not arise again in the future.