In light of the sanctions imposed on Russian diamonds, European traders are faced with serious problems caused by new rules for trading in precious stones.

According to the publication of the British newspaper The Times, market participants consider the European Commission’s demands that all diamonds entering EU countries be sent to Antwerp to verify their origin are absurd and chaotic.

Traders complain of long delays, additional costs and customer frustration due to bureaucratic delays. Officials require numerous documents confirming the source of each shipment of diamonds. If previously it took a couple of days to complete an order, now this process can take two weeks. A financial consultant to the Antwerp diamond industry said ten companies are already planning to move to Dubai or India due to the new rules.

Unlike the European Union, the UK and the US abandoned such a scheme, allowing diamond producers to independently certify the country of origin of diamonds. The president of the London Diamond Exchange expressed relief that Brexit had avoided the chaos caused by EU sanctions in the UK market.

The Antwerp International Diamond Center sent a letter to market participants acknowledging that G7 sanctions against Russian diamonds have disrupted supplies due to new declaration and customs clearance requirements.

Despite the restrictions imposed by the European Union and the G7, Russian authorities have announced their intention to redirect diamond exports to other markets to compensate for losses from sanctions.