The Kimberley Process (KP), the international mechanism governing the diamond trade, has concluded its landmark ‘Year of Best Practice’ following its November 2025 Plenary. Under the custodianship of the United Arab Emirates, the initiative has significantly advanced its operational framework through three core pillars: transparent valuation, global certification standards, and comprehensive digitalization. These measures are designed to combat the flow of conflict diamonds, close systemic loopholes, and ensure mineral wealth benefits producing nations and their local communities.
A primary defense against illicit trade is robust and impartial diamond valuation. Accurate assessment strengthens the alignment between physical shipments and their accompanying KP certificates, creating a verifiable chain of custody. Conversely, arbitrary or weak valuation immediately creates vulnerabilities for exploitation. Practices like under-invoicing rough diamonds directly deprive producing countries of crucial tax and royalty revenues, undermining governance and perpetuating the very abuses the KP was established to prevent. Effective valuation must encompass full Run-of-Mine production, maintain complete independence from producer bias, and be driven by rigorous, market-based analytics connected to major trading hubs like Dubai. Platforms such as WWW International Diamond Consultants and DCi’s E Valuer provide critical independent benchmarks, while specialists like Mercury Diamond employ Transaction Based Valuation to derive rough prices from polished wholesale data, capturing true market value.
Operational integrity is now measurable through international standards. The UAE KP office has set a global benchmark by becoming the only participant among the 86 represented countries to achieve and maintain ISO 9001:2015 certification, successfully renewing it three times over six years. This certification translates into tangible accountability, meaning all internal processes—from membership administration to data verification—are continuously managed, externally audited, and aligned with internationally recognized best practices. Achieving this required the documentation of 60 operational procedure manuals, which streamlined workflows and ensured consistent handling of every case, providing a proven model for other participants to strengthen their own governance.
Digital transformation represents the third pillar of modernization. The development of the KP’s digital certification platform, Verifico, marks a pivotal shift from vulnerable paper-based certificates to secure digital records, potentially reinforced by blockchain or QR code technology. This move drastically reduces the risk of physical certificate fraud and enables faster, more reliable verification between border authorities. Furthermore, digitalization unlocks the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct real-time analysis of trade flows. AI can detect anomalies in volume, value, and routing, as well as weaknesses in operational controls connected to mining and manufacturing, transforming the KP from a reactive administrative body into a proactive compliance mechanism.
With its ‘Year of Best Practice’ complete, the KP’s focus on operational excellence provides the essential administrative foundation for its long-term legitimacy and strength. As India assumes the 2026 Chairmanship and Ghana the Vice Chair, the KP is positioned to continue evolving with integrity, ensuring every diamond in the legitimate trade is defined by rigor and an unwavering commitment to a conflict-free future.