Sightholder Files DTC Complaint With EC (Rapaport 6/1/2006)

A Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sightholder in Belgium has filed a complaint against De Beers value added service (VAS) with the European Commission (EC). Technically, sightholders can not take their complaints to the court. Instead, they have the possibility to find a solution and, if that does not work out, then they can take their case to the EC’s ombudsman. The content of the complaint concerns not only about VAS but also about DTC’s Supplier of Choice (SOC) program. There are two main issues. First, the promised goods were different from what was received. Secondly, the sightholder claims that an additional 1.5 percent cost was added to SOC services to cover VAS.