De Beers is a family of companies that dominate all aspects of the diamond industry. Mining of De Beers’ diamonds take place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada.
De Beers is well known for its monopolistic practices throughout the 20th century, using its dominant position to manipulate the international diamond market. De beers convinced independent producers to join its single channel monopoly, flooded the market with diamonds similar to those produced by companies who refused to join the cartel, and purchased and stock piled diamonds from other manufacturers in order to control prices through supply.
LEGAL ISSUES – From 2001 onwards lawsuits were filed against De Beers in US and international court rooms. The lawsuits claimed that De Beers unlawfully monopolizes the diamond industry so that they can fix prices and keep them high. De Beers never admitted to violating the law, but did agree to a settlement of $295 million due to many other civil suits against them. They agreed that people who had bought their diamonds after a certain date could be compensated.
In 1999, due to the creation of the Kimberly Process, De Beers decided to stop all outside buying of diamonds to guarantee that De Beers could be called a conflict-free company.
De Beers claims that 100% of its diamonds are now conflict free and are purchased within compliance of law.
De Beers is well known for its monopolistic practices throughout the 20th century, using its dominant position to manipulate the international diamond market. De beers convinced independent producers to join its single channel monopoly, flooded the market with diamonds similar to those produced by companies who refused to join the cartel, and purchased and stock piled diamonds from other manufacturers in order to control prices through supply.
LEGAL ISSUES – From 2001 onwards lawsuits were filed against De Beers in US and international court rooms. The lawsuits claimed that De Beers unlawfully monopolizes the diamond industry so that they can fix prices and keep them high. De Beers never admitted to violating the law, but did agree to a settlement of $295 million due to many other civil suits against them. They agreed that people who had bought their diamonds after a certain date could be compensated.
In 1999, due to the creation of the Kimberly Process, De Beers decided to stop all outside buying of diamonds to guarantee that De Beers could be called a conflict-free company.
De Beers claims that 100% of its diamonds are now conflict free and are purchased within compliance of law.
No comments:
Post a Comment