What is the structure of the rough diamond market and who are De Beers’ competitors?
The rough diamond market is highly concentrated. Major players besides De Beers (market share above 40%) and ALROSA (market share above 20%) include Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Aber, each of which holds a market share of below 10%. What is the De Beers/ALROSA Trade Agreement about? The investigated practices arise from a purchase relationship between De Beers with ALROSA (or its predecessors), which dates back to 1959 and which developed over time. Specifically the investigation concerned a Trade Agreement, which was entered into on 17 December 2001 by DBCAG and CWEL of the De Beers group, on one side, and ALROSA, on the other. On 5 March 2002 De Beers and ALROSA Company Limited notified this Trade Agreement to the European Commission (under the procedural rules for applying EC anti-trust rules until 1 May 2004, i.e. Regulation No 17/62, since replaced by Regulation 1/2003 – under the new procedural rules companies have to verify the compliance of their agreements with competition rule
