GIA Reverts to Paper Dossiers Following Trade Uproar

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will return to producing printed diamond dossiers following pushback from the industry over the security and popularity of its new digital reports.

Beginning April 9, all diamonds submitted for grading will come back with paper documents, similar to the reports the GIA was issuing before it switched to digital-only in January, the institute said Friday. Customers who received the digital reports over the last few months can request a paper version at no cost.

Meanwhile, digital certificates will still be available for those who prefer the paperless format, the GIA added.

The about-face came after the industry expressed concern over the difficulties of integrating the digital-only reports into their businesses, as first reported by Rapaport News. The new reports not only reduced security, trade members argued, but were a hard sell for retailers, whose customers were used to paper certificates and were returning stones that came with digital dossiers.

“We did not adequately anticipate the challenges of adopting the digital-only GIA Diamond Dossier report,” said GIA senior vice president and chief operating officer Pritesh Patel in the Friday announcement. The institute “will continue to provide the printed reports that enhance consumer trust, while working to develop robust, secure and compelling digital versions of all our reports.”

The decision met with applause from the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), which had heard many industry leaders discuss their unease with the digital-only initiative during the most recent World Diamond Congress in March. The day after the gathering, WFDB president Yoram Dvash brought the issue to GIA executive vice president Tom Moses.

Moses “understood the challenges the industry has with the digital certificate,” Dvash related afterward. “We are very pleased that the GIA was sensitive to our needs and thank them for their cooperation and support.”

Image: Paper GIA diamond dossier reports. (Shutterstock)