Effective January 1, 2003, the trade of the diamond raw materials in the Republic of Armenia is realized only with the member states of the Kimberley Process due to Armenia’s membership to the Kimberley Process, whereby any cargo of the diamond raw materials, regardless of the fact whether it is being imported or exported, shall be accompanied by a Kimberley Process Certificate issued by the exporting country.

In accordance with the procedure approved by the RA Government Decree No.505-N in 2003, the procedure regulates the importation of diamonds to the Republic of Armenia and exportation of diamonds from the Republic of Armenia: natural - unprocessed, non-categorized (CNFEA code: 7102 10 000), industrial - unprocessed or roughly processed (CNFEA code: 7102 21 000), non-industrial – unprocessed or simply sawn, cracked or roughly processed (CNFEA code: 7102 31 000).

Diamonds can be imported to the Republic of Armenia only upon availability of a Kimberley Process Certificate issued by the exporting country. A relevant customs officer shall put a signature and stamp next to the line “Customs Office note” on the coupon of the Kimberley Process Certificate accompanying the imported natural diamonds.

In case of importation of diamonds to the Republic of Armenia with a certificate, these are subject to registration and record-keeping in accordance with the requirements defined by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Exportation of diamonds from the Republic of Armenia can be executed only if a certificate issued by the authorized entity is available. Exportation can be carried out only to the member states of the Kimberley Process.

In order to receive a certificate for exportation of diamonds from the Republic of Armenia, the declarant shall present to the authorized entity either in person, by mail or online (electronic address: www.e-gov.am) the following documents:

1)      an application in accordance with Form 1 (see Attachments),

2)      documents substantiating the origin of the exporting diamonds (copies of the importation contract and certificate, based on which the exporting quantity of raw materials has been imported),

3)      reference on exporting raw materials (the country of exportation, name, location, and telephone number of the organization), value of the exporting diamonds (USD), CNFEA code,

4)      reference on the balance of unprocessed diamonds owned by the declarant as of the given day in case of submitting an application for the first time to receive a certificate,

5)      a copy of the permission or other document issued by a relevant authorized entity of the Republic of Armenia authorizing the importation or exportation of a product to/from the Republic of Armenia, if the requirement for such a permission or other document for importation or exportation of a given product is prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

To receive a certificate, the declarant can submit the application electronically through the e-government system of the Republic of Armenia (www.e-gov.am website). The application to receive a certificate is considered accepted effective the date of application registration by a qualifying entity. The registration of the application is confirmed by a return notification, which contains a 12-digit code. The declarant can follow the application process by logging into the system with the given 12-digit code.

The certificate shall be delivered to the declarant within three working days in the manner indicated by the declarant in the application and in the event the declarant presents the originals of the documents initially attached to the application, which in accordance with the order prescribed by legislation shall be submitted in their original form to the authorized entity (in the event of an authorized person, a relevant power of attorney and identification documents shall also be presented). The originals of the documents shall not be submitted to the authorized entity, if the application to receive a certificate and documents are signed by an electronic digital signature in accordance with the order prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

On the basis of the documents submitted by the declarant, the authorized entity issues a certificate within three working days.

The application to receive a certificate shall be rejected, if the submitted documents do not comply with the requirements of Clause 5 of the procedure or the submitted documents are false or distorted or have not been completed within the period specified in Clause 7.1 of the procedure. Within two working days after deciding to reject the application, the declarant shall be notified in the manner indicated by the declarant in the application.

In case the documents are non-compliant with the requirements defined in Clause 5 of the procedure, the declarant shall be notified accordingly within one working day in the manner indicated by the declarant in the application and shall be offered to amend errors and subsequently re-submit the documents within two working days. In case of amending and submitting the documents, the certificate shall be issued within the next three working days.

The declarant may appeal against the rejection to receive a certificate in accordance with the order prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.