EU 12th sanctions package: Russian diamond import ban and steel/trade restrictions (Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2878)

Mechanism

Council Regulation (EU) 2023/2878, adopted 18 December 2023 as part of the EU's 12th sanctions package responding to Russia's war against Ukraine, enters into force the day after publication (19 December 2023). Its best-known element is the diamond restriction: a direct ban on importing Russian non-industrial natural and synthetic diamonds and diamond jewellery, effective 1 January 2024, followed by an indirect ban — extending to Russian diamonds cut, polished, or otherwise processed in third countries — phased in from 1 March 2024 and complete by 1 September 2024. The diamond measure was developed in coordination with the other G7 economies to close third-country laundering routes for Russian-origin stones. The same regulation also widens the EU's existing import-ban list (which already covered products such as steel) and adds further trade and economic restrictions.

Downstream implications

• The phased indirect ban (through 1 September 2024) specifically targets

cutting/polishing hubs outside Russia — most consequentially India, the dominant diamond-processing centre — creating a verification/certification burden for any midstream buyer of polished diamonds.

• Sits alongside the EU's broader steel and import-revenue restrictions in

the same regulation; see western-russia-sanctions theme for the parallel US/UK/Canada tranches in this period.

Open questions

• Extent of G7-wide diamond-certification-scheme compliance and any

measurable diversion of Russian diamond exports through non-G7 markets.