Dear Members;
The board of BVGD would like to report to you on our activities for the year 2007, keeping in mind the interests of our members.
1) Supplier of Choice (SoC):
From the very outset it has been our stand that the SoC is detrimental to our business and represents an abuse of dominant position. On January 26th the European Commission rejected our complaint filed in 2005. We filed an appeal with the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. We are still in procedure with an expected court date around the end of this year.
2) Law Proposal ("Wet Voorstel"):
The Law Proposal, which is now being considered in Parliament, was in fact at the outset an initiative of the BVGD.
The whole purpose of the bill was not to make a "Diamond Bill" as it is sometimes described, but to make one that serves every business in Belgium. It was drafted with outside lawyers and the AWDC. The bill has the backing of two associations who represent 300.000 Belgian companies, UNIZO and other major associations have joined forces on this issue.
The idea of this bill is to prevent indiscriminate and abusive raids in Antwerp where offices were raided and goods seized. This abusive and disproportionate seizure of goods can, and often does, sound the death knell for some companies. Hence this is the reason why this "Wet Voorstel" is so important.
3) Intern Compensatie Fonds:
Early July, the Diamond sector was shocked by discovering that a new “Social Plan” has been created by Royal Decree a few months earlier. The market had not been
informed and because of the timing of the announcement, legal recourse had been rendered more difficult.
Nonetheless, the BVGD contacted the best Constitutional lawyers in Brussels and a lawsuit has been planned.
In the meantime, thanks to our strong and determined reaction we were able to obtain already some positive reduction in the rate of taxation.
However, the BVGD is still of the opinion that this “Social Plan” is a useless subsidy and a waste of company money.
Many individual members want to challenge this abusive Decree and recuperate their money. The BVGD will continue to help and coordinate the ensuing judicial actions.
4) Newsletter
Following a request by many members at the last General Assembly, we have started a Newsletter to inform our members of our activities and the actions we are taking.
5) Freezone / Export zone:
This was one of the 11 so-called “knelpunten” agreed with the previous government.
The BVGD was very interested in this question however due to a lack of coordination and transparency, the project has not yet taken a useful shape.
6) Diamond Derivatives:
There were some initiatives in 2007 to create diamond derivatives markets. BVGD is following these issues closely but urged caution as the diamond market is particularly narrow and thus can be easily manipulated. Some service companies, as well as certain bankers are still working on this issue. We will study any proposals and inform our members through our newsletter.
7) Export/Import procedures:
Import as well as Export procedures have been simplified. We are in regular contact with the Diamond Office manager Mr. Arie Epstein, looking at ways to improve the situation, reduce the waiting time and improve the efficiency at DO.
8) Logos for Antwerp diamond companies:
The BVGD initially came up with the idea for Antwerp to have a logo. We got in contact with Mrs. Monique Van Trappen, who took this issue to heart. The logo "Antwerp loves Diamonds" was well received and it is at the disposal of all as in stickers, parcel papers, etc.
been accepted well with all parties.
We hope that you have a better understanding of the issues we have been dealing with and appreciate the work we do voluntarily. We look forward to your support on these or other issues.
Antwerp, May 28th 2008
Shashin Choksi
Secretary
BVGD
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