The 2016 Kimberley Process (KP) Chair issued a communication dated 14 April informing all KP Participants and Observers that the Central African Republic region of Berberati in the southwest of the country has been declared a “Compliant Zone” as per the requirements of the Administrative Decision and Operational Framework for Resumption of Exports of Rough Diamonds from the Central African Republic (CAR). The KP Monitoring Team for CAR is currently in the process of agreeing with the country’s KP Authority on a schedule for the team’s monthly inspections of export shipments from Berberati. Anticipating these developments, the European Commission has adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/557 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2368/2002 in order to allow the EU to accept any possible imports from the Berbérati Sous-Préfecture of CAR.

The letter also states that the largest diamond buying house in the country (Sodiam) has agreed to continue their operations despite their earlier announcement declaring they intended to close. To our knowledge, no schedule for monthly export shipments from Berberati has been established.