Milan: With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Gemmological Commission, headed by Hanco Zwaan, the report looks at issues related to nomenclature and identification, and in particular how these have contributed to alleged inconsistencies in the results reported by different laboratories.

Although it is recognized that laboratories may differ in their approaches and opinions on the wording used on reports, it should be recognized that work has already been done in harmonizing methods and nomenclature, in the CIBJO Blue Books and in the sheets produced by the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC), Mr. Zwaan writes.

The Special Report also relates to the pressures placed on laboratories to grade gemstones using commercial terms, like “pigeon blood red” for rubies and “royal blue” for sapphires. “The objective is to find common ground and ways to move forward to formulate standards in this area that can be widely accepted and used,” Mr. Zwaan notes.