CIBJO Creates Committee on Lab-Grown Diamonds

RAPAPORT... The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) has votedto establish a lab-grown diamond committee that will determine rules for the synthetics sector. The CIBJO board approved the move at the confederation's 2019 congress in Bahrain, which took place from November 18 to 20. The committee will include members of an existing working group that comprises CIBJO officers, as well as representatives from the lab-grown and natural diamondindustries and a gem lab. They will report to CIBJO's Diamond Commission."The time has come to reach a modus operandi that isacceptable to all of us," CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri said Thursday. "Unnecessaryeffort and time have been wasted through mutual recrimination, and ultimatelyit is in the interests of all sides to develop a mutually agreed-to frameworkthat would prevent problematic incidents, such as the mixing of parcels ofnatural and laboratory-grown diamonds without disclosing the fact to consumers." The organization also set up a committee that aims todevelop an understanding of the new technologies impacting the industry. Additionally, the CIBJO board reelected Cavalieri foranother two-year term and voted in two new vice presidents to join current vice president Roland Naftule. They are Jonathan Kendall of De Beers, and PramodAgrawal, chairman of India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council(GJEPC). Image: Members of the laboratory-grown diamond working group. (World Jewellery Confederation)