CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) have fulfilled the final stage of an agreement, by which the nomenclature used by the International Diamond Council (IDC) will now be harmonised with that of CIBJO’s Diamond Blue Book.

The agreement was formalised at the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, after the CIBJO Diamond Commission approved amendments to the CIBJO Diamond Book that had been requested by the IDC, as part of the agreement between the three organisations.

“The CIBJO Diamond Book may now function as the single official reference book for nomenclature in the entire diamond and jewellery industry, with the goal of enhancing consumer confidence,” explained Udi Sheintal, the CIBJO Diamond Commission President.

“The true beneficiaries of this agreement are the diamond consumers, who will now be able to refer to a single set of rules for describing diamonds,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. “Our Blue Books are living documents, which are reviewed year in and year out on a continuing basis, to ensure that they are current with changing conditions and technological developments. The fact that the CIBJO Diamond Book now endorsed by the WFDB and the IDMA, serves the interest of both the industry and the marketplace.

“This is a major step forward that we have worked towards for a long time. The IDC was created by the WFDB and the IDMA to defend the integrity of the diamond, and the step of creating a single, universally applicable book will combat any confusion in the market about nomenclature,” said WFDB President Ernie Blom.

IDC was established in 1975 to provide its founders – the WFDB and the IDMA – with a set of universally accepted standards of nomenclature for polished diamonds within the international diamond trade.