Recent decisions by CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, illustrate the organization’s commitment to unify the global gem and jewelry trade with common nomenclature and guidelines to restore buyer confidence and improve sales.
In his keynote speech at the CIBJO Congress in Munich in February, the group’s president, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, spoke of the critical role CIBJO plays in the trade. “Together, we help to shape the future of our industry and the way our customers relate to the products we sell,” he told attendees.
The recent global economic crisis made clear that the luxury market in general, and fine jewelry in particular, is not recession-proof. “We’re a demand-driven business in which the decision-making power lies with the consumer,” says Cavalieri. “To insure consumers buy gem and jewelry products, unambiguous nomenclature is required.”
In furtherance of that goal, CIBJO members, representing 40 countries across the globe, adopted standardized nomenclature for colored gemstones at the congress, along with an expansion of acceptable terms to describe synthetic diamonds. Roland Naftule, CIBJO vice president and president of the organization’s diamond, gem and pearl sector, says such documents have the ultimate goal of getting everyone in the trade to disclose. “The consuming public should be aware of what it is buying and that there are product choices that offer different values,” he explains.
In another effort to fortify its position as the umbrella group of the global gem and jewelry trade and to inform and reassure consumers, CIBJO has released a guide for jewelry consumers entitled “Diamonds, Gemstones, Pearls and Precious Metals: A Consumer Guide.” The guide, which will be downloadable on the organization’s website, presents the fundamental elements of these products in an easy-to-understand layout with imagery designed to engage potential jewelry buyers and help them make informed decisions.
A study conducted for CIBJO in March 2008 by theJewelry Consumer Opinion Council (JCOC), a U.S. consumer e-research group, underscored the need for greater transparency in product description and identification. More than half of the 2,400 respondents were concerned that man-made diamonds are being passed off as mined diamonds and nearly half worried that the natural, untreated diamonds they were buying could be treated. But, also of significance was the fact that at least one-third of survey respondents indicated they want to learn more about these and other topics.
“The biggest job is to get the retailers to disclose,” says Naftule, who admits he’s puzzled as to why many jewelers don’t do it. “Those who are proactive about disclosure find out it helps, not hurts, their business, positioning them as gem experts in their community.”
Naftule describes the consumer guide, as well as a retailer guide released earlier in 2009 and CIBJO’s well-established library of four Blue Books, as living documents that can be modified and improved. An example of this is the decision by the CIBJO Pearl Commission to re-examine some pearl definitions in light of new culturing techniques from China, according to Kenneth Scarratt, managing director of Southeast Asia for the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), director of the GIA Laboratory in Bangkok and current chair of the Pearl Commission. Scarratt also recommends the development of a detailed coding system for pearl types and treatments, “similar to that already applied to colored stones.”
Color Coded
The gemstone coding system adopted by CIBJO at this year’s congress is the same one drafted by the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) 26 years ago. A plan pitched at the 2007 Congress in Capetown to integrate treatment modification codes on commercial documents and jewelry tags for use by retailers to impart proper disclosure information — the ultimate goal of the group — inspired CIBJO to approve an amended set of codes based on AGTA’s system at its 2009 Congress in Istanbul. But Naftule, a proponent of disclosure for decades, says the missing link was getting all three of the world’s top colored gemstone associations — CIBJO, the International Colored Stone Association (ICA) and AGTA — to agree to use AGTA’s disclosure codes. That agreement, tentatively approved at the Tucson gem shows in early February 2010, was formally ratified at CIBJO’s Congress in Munich later the same month.
The final agreement represents “an unprecedented level of cooperation among three bodies representing virtually the entire global colored gemstone community,” says Douglas K. Hucker, AGTA’s chief executive officer (CEO). Charles Abouchar, ICA vice president, points out its significance, noting that “One set of codes means there’s no longer any ambiguity about how gem enhancements and treatments need to be disclosed in the industry supply chain. It will significantly increase the confidence retailers need to purchase colored stones in the global gem market.”
Cavalieri notes that CIBJO is in favor of harmonized grading systems “not to turn diamonds and gems into products that are traded on commodity exchanges, but rather to enhance transparency and the accuracy of disclosure and to defend consumer confidence.”
Long delays in achieving agreement are nothing new for CIBJO. It took several years of discussion before the organization’s Diamond Commission agreed at this year’s congress to broaden the language used to describe nonnatural diamond beyond the term “synthetic” to include “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created.”
“English-speaking countries pushed to make the change,” Naftule says, noting that the reason why some major international diamond groups — International Diamond Council (IDC), World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) — already used the terms is because they deal heavily with the U.S. market. For most countries, the word “synthetic” is very clear, says Naftule, while the other terms do not translate well, creating confusion.
Udi Sheintal, president of CIBJO’s Diamond Commission, says the decision to include the additional terms was made “in the best interest of consumer protection and industry harmonization.”
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2010. To subscribe click here.