Brussels / Geneva, 04/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has given the go-ahead to national measures taken by certain Member States to prohibit "war diamonds" from their international trade in the framework of the Kimberley Process (see EUROPE of 12 February, p.10). Once ratified by the General Council, the WTO's supreme body, this decision will enable the 11 countries that have asked for this (including the United States, which recently accused the Union of blocking the agreement) and those that will do so later, to be exempt from GATT provisions relating to the "most Favoured Nation" (Art. I: 1), from the elimination of quantitative restrictions (Article XI: 1) and the non-discriminatory management of quantitative restrictions (art: XIII: 1), for the period ranging from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2006. The text endorsed by 145 countries within the Trade in Goods Board explicitly recognises "the extraordinary humanitarian nature of this issue and the devastating impact of conflicts fuelled by trade in diamonds in terms of the peace, safety and security of the populations of the countries concerned, as well as the systematic and gross violation of human rights perpetrated in the conflicts.