Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) retorted to the declaration of Anti-money laundering act. Chairman Bakul Mehta commented that the Indian gem and jewellery export production industry already worked under India�s strict anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering laws and therefore the United States government might want to consider this when applying the USA-Patriot Act to gem and jewellery imports from this country.

Mehta also stated that GJEPC has appointed an agency and is developing a set of guidelines to ensure industry-wide compliance with the US Jewelers Vigilance Committee�s (JVC) handbook on anti-money-laundering rules. Once the compliance system is in place, the US Justice Department would be welcome to recommend if any further safeguards were required. The Commerce ministry has in turn, brought up this matter in talks with United States trade representative Rob Portman, who was in India along with President George Bush.

Indian exporters are already complying with the guidelines laid out in the JVC handbook and exports to the US were running smoothly. However, the GJEPC would not want legitimate exporters to be hampered by any ambiguities in the interpretation of the law.