CBP Updates Diamond Trade Mitigation Guidelines

CBP updated its mitigation guidelines for violations of regulations under the Clean Diamond Trade Act. The updated guidelines were posted on the agency website on April 9. CBP said it is updating the “mitigation guidelines to state that penalties should be assessed at an amount up to the maximum penalty amount provided for” in the regulations “at the time of the violation.” The agency “is also clarifying that the penalty can be assessed at an amount less than the maximum amount if appropriate (e.g., the value of the rough diamond(s) involved in the violation is less than the maximum penalty amount or other circumstances warrant a lower amount). CBP is also increasing the maximum mitigation ranges to reflect the current maximum penalty amount of $13,669.”

CBP won't “issue new guidelines each time the maximum penalty amount is increased pursuant to” inflation adjustment requirements, but “CBP is amending the guidelines to state that future penalties should be assessed at the amount stated” in those requirements “at the time the violation occurred,” it said. “In addition, CBP is amending the guidelines to state that the upper range for mitigation purposes will be the amount at which the penalty was assessed.”