ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

Subcommittee on Trade

Crane Announces Hearing on Trade "Conflict Diamonds"

Congressman Philip M. Crane (R-IL), Chairman, Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Trade in African Diamonds." The hearing will take place on Tuesday, October 9, 2001, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Oral testimony at this hearing will be from both invited and public witnesses. Invited witnesses will include officials from the U.S. Department of State and Office of the United States Trade Representative. Also, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee or for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

Last year, the Subcommittee on Trade held a hearing on the diamond trade and its link to illegal arms trafficking and civil war in Africa. "Conflict diamonds" generally come from mines controlled by rebel forces and are traded for arms to fuel civil war in Africa.

Many claim that the Sierra Leone rebel organization Revolutionary United Front has been trading "conflict diamonds" to finance its war against the government of Sierra Leone. The United Nations has adopted several resolutions calling for embargoes against diamonds from Sierra Leone and other African countries. The resolutions call on member states to ban the importation of rough diamonds unless those diamonds are exported under a certification system approved by a Security Council Sanction Committee. The Administration has responded with several executive orders implementing these resolutions. See the White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010523-11.html.

The United States has been actively involved in efforts to curb the trade in "conflict diamonds" and in developing an international regime known as the "Kimberley Process" to help countries identify the source of diamonds in order to implement the United Nations resolutions. This month in London, further agreement was reached on control procedures. However, many important questions remain to be decided, and these questions need to be resolved in the next several meetings in order to successfully conclude the negotiations and report to the United Nations by November.

Under current U.S. law, the origin of a cut diamond is the country where the diamond was cut, and U.S. Customs does not require any information relating to the country of mining of the imported cut diamond. Most experts agree that once a diamond has been cut and polished, it is difficult to determine the country where it was mined.

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The focus of the hearing will be to evaluate legislative options available that: (1) are administrable and WTO consistent, (2) will not undermine ongoing Administration efforts to reach an international consensus banning such trade, and (3) will effectively curtail conflict diamond trade without impacting the legitimate diamond trade. In announcing the hearing, Chairman Crane stated: "I would like to explore what progress the Administration has made since our hearing last year in building an international coalition to stop these 'conflict diamonds' from Africa, with a view toward moving an appropriate legislative proposal this year."

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSIONS OF REQUESTS TO BE HEARD:

Requests to be heard at the hearing must be made by telephone to Traci Altman or Bill Covey at (202) 225-1721 no later than the close of business, Monday, October 1, 2001. The telephone request should be followed by a formal written request to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. The staff of the Subcommittee on Trade will notify by telephone those scheduled to appear as soon as possible after the filing deadline. Any questions concerning a scheduled appearance should be directed to the Subcommittee on Trade staff at (202) 225-6649.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, the Subcommittee may not be able to accommodate all requests to be heard. Those persons and organizations not scheduled for an oral appearance are encouraged to submit written statements for the record of the hearing. All persons requesting to be heard, whether they are scheduled for oral testimony or not, will be notified as soon as possible after the filing deadline.

Witnesses scheduled to present oral testimony are required to summarize briefly their written statements in no more than five minutes. THE FIVE-MINUTE RULE WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED. The full written statement of each witness will be included in the printed record, in accordance with House Rules.

In order to assure the most productive use of the limited amount of time available to question witnesses, all witnesses scheduled to appear before the Subcommittee are required to submit 200 copies, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, of their prepared statement for review by Members prior to the hearing. Testimony should arrive at the Subcommittee on Trade office, room 1104 Longworth House Office Building, no later than Friday, October 5, 2001. Failure to do so may result in the witness being denied the opportunity to testify in person.

WRITTEN STATEMENTS IN LIEU OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE:

Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, October 23, 2001, to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Trade office, room 1104 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.

4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.

The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at "http://waysandmeans.house.gov".

The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.