The United States still hopes its sanctions on Russian diamonds will include a traceability component, Brad Brooks-Rubin, senior adviser for the State Department’s Office of the Sanctions Coordinator, said Wednesday.

The U.S. currently requires importers to “self-certify” that their polished diamonds aren’t from Russia, but it would prefer a mechanism that goes beyond that, according to Brooks-Rubin.

“We seek to ensure that traceability is a key feature embedded in [an] eventual system,” he said. “We are working to achieve agreed-upon principles of traceability as a preferred method of implementation, rather than pure self-certification.”

Brooks-Rubin made the comments on July 16 via video for the Initiatives in Art and Culture’s 14th annual Gold + Diamond Conference in New York City.

Debate over a proposed traceability system has gotten contentious, with some African governments criticizing the European Union (EU) plan to designate Antwerp as the sole “rough node.” Antwerp World Diamond Centre recently backed away from that approach, saying it’s possible nodes could also be located elsewhere, particularly in African producers like Botswana.

“The G7 generally supports the effort that’s ongoing within the working group to expand the current traceability mechanism,” Brooks-Rubin said. “We are working with other countries, including those in Africa, to ensure a fair and equitable way forward to keep banned Russian diamonds out of the G7.”

In June, the EU announced it was delaying implementation of the proposed certification system by six months, until March 2025. Brooks-Rubin said the United States agreed with that delay.

He added that the U.S. favors a “commonsense” approach on “grandfathered” goods—those bought prior to the enactment of sanctions on Russian diamonds—and is working with the industry to determine the best way forward.

In March, the United States banned the import of polished diamonds 1 ct. and larger that were mined in Russia. Those sanctions are due to be extended in September to diamonds of at least 0.5 ct.

(Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

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