...The World Diamond Council is busy handing out “Conflict Diamond Confidence Packs” to retailers with handy “pocket confidence” cards for tricky questions they expect the film [Blood Diamond] will generate once the words Blood Diamond are on cinema billings... In 2002, the Kimberley Process was created followed by the System of Warranties to eliminate conflict diamonds from the market... “The percentage of conflict diamonds entering the market today may be low, but we are concerned that the Kimberley Process is not working well enough” says Susie Sanders, a spokesman for Global Witness which claims that diamonds from the war zones in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia are being laundered through Ghana... It is a case of a few bad apples potentially upsetting the cart. The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) – formerly DeBeers – produces 40 per cent of the world’s diamonds from its industrialised conflict-free mines... It also requires that any client who buys their diamonds be squeaky clean as well. The Aber Corporation, which as well as owning Harry Winston, is 40 per cent owner of the Diavik diamond mine in...Canada, are far removed from war. But...they are not standing still...Harry Winston is careful about what it buys from third parties. Responsible retailers have long adopted policies regarding the sourcing of their stones. Tiffany & Co. says: “We have taken, and will continue to take, vigorous steps to avoid the purchase of conflict diamonds,” and take steps such as buying only from known, legitimate miners, trusted cutters and work with polishers who promise in writing that the diamonds they are purchasing are not conflict diamonds. The problem for the client is that...it is not always possible to provide a physical certificate for each diamond: “All Cartier diamond purchases are subject to a supplier’s Statement of Warranty that the diamonds are conflict-free...” says Pamela Caillens, Cartier’s corporate responsibility director. [Cartier is part of Richemont] “It is not available at retail level because Cartier diamond purchasing is centralised, and so are the invoices received from suppliers.” Work is going on behind the scenes, but do the consumers actually care? “It is surprising that on the whole people are not interested in the provenance of diamonds,” says Bob Gannicott, CEO of Aber Corporation. “But we are not being glib and, in the future, people will be more interested in where their diamonds are from.” Daniel White of the DTC agrees: “Even if the consumer doesn’t care, we have to be conflict free.”