New York: US sanctions on importing rough diamonds from Russia do not apply to stones mined there but cut and polished elsewhere, according to the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

The ban, announced last Friday, covers “unworked or simply sawn, cleaved or bruted” diamonds, or what generally referred to as “rough diamonds”, but does not extend to gems polished in other countries.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) excludes from its definition of Russian goods anything “that has been incorporated or substantially transformed into a foreign-made product.”

The New York-based JVC, which provides legal education and compliance guidance to the jewelry industry, said: “Under this guidance, rough diamonds imported from Russia into a country that has not implemented sanctions or a ban and then cut and polished are currently legal to import into the US as they will fall under a separate harmonized tariff code.”

It does, however, recommends that members “proceed with extreme caution regarding diamond imports, as the risk of additional future limitations is high”.