Milan: Representatives of leading gem laboratories will join diamond, gemstone and jewellery industry leaders in Salvador, Brazil, on May 6, for a special conference on the first day of the 2015 CIBJO Congress, which will focus specifically on the standards and practices used by grading laboratories in the industry, and the quality of the grading reports they produce. More specifically they will consider the divergence of standards and results that are prevalent in the industry.

“Over the past two decades, changing business conditions and evolving consumer expectations have resulted in diamond, coloured stone and pearl laboratory reports to become necessities in our trade,” wrote CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri and CIBJO Vice President and Sector A President Roland Naftule, in their invitation to participants. “But while their use is universal, the standards and systems according to which they are compiled are not. Inconsistencies in grading, reporting, identification and determination of country of origin are often widespread between laboratories, and even sometimes within the same organizations. This is creating significant problems for our trade and, if not contained, the gravity of the situation will seriously affect consumer confidence at every level.”

Participants at the conference will discuss a CIBJO recommendation that an international committee of gemmological laboratory representatives from around the globe be created to discuss methods that could result in more consistent and reliable gemmological laboratory reports. Such a committee could consist of 12 to 14 members, four to six of which could become permanent, with the balance rotating in a well-defined manner.

Discussion of benchmarks for gemmological laboratories, and creating a system of dispute resolution will also be discussed.

KW: