Coloured Stones Special Report 2025

SPECIAL REPORT

COLOURED STONES

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by The Glorious Studio.

Restoring order during times of volatility and uncertainty,
new opal and jade gem guides under development

By Charles Abouchar
President
CIBJO Coloured Stones Commission

SEPTEMBER 18, 2025

This Special Report covers the work of the Coloured Stone Commission during the course of the past year. It is technical in nature, and in some respect projects a sense of business as usual during a period that many in our industry have considered volatile and challenging. As has been reported, during 2025 prices for standard coloured stones have softened, although the value of top-tier “investment stones” continues to climb.

But, as a matter of principle, the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission is price agnostic. That is not to say that, as individuals, we are indifferent to the value of gems. On the contrary many of our members are traders.

But prices are set in the marketplace through the economics of supply and demand. CIBJO’s mission, and that of our commission, is to help ensure that the market operates fairly. For this reason, we developed universal standards, practices, terminology, and tools that help ensure that the coloured stone trade can go about its business in a transparent, fair and responsible manner.

When a purchasing choice is made, the prospective buyer should always be in possession of the information he or she needs to make rational and reasoned decision.

PHOTO CREDIT: © Gemfields 2023.

Uncertainty over U.S. trade tariff policy

But it is not only supply and demand that is engendering a sense of insecurity. The global economic headwinds and the on-again, off-again U.S. import tariffs have injected uncertainty into the gemstone market. That said, it seems that we are beginning to establish a sense of clarity.

The purpose of its “reciprocal” tariff policy, according to the new U.S. Administration, is to address perceived imbalances between the United States and its trading partners, with the stated goal of protecting American industries.

However, the U.S. trade authorities have recognised that, since certain essential materials cannot be produced in the United States, American industry may itself by disadvantaged by the tariffs. It thus added Annex II to the Executive Order, which exempts certain strategic materials, among them minerals such as gold, silver and platinum group metals from the tariff regime. This not an all-encompassing exemption. Thus, for example while gold bullion bars, coins, industrial powder and leaf are included in Annex II, other gold articles like finished jewelry containing gold are not necessarily covered.

Representatives of our industry in the United States lobbied hard to have both coloured gemstones and diamonds added to Annex II. They were not successful, but on September 5, 2025, a new Annex III was added to the Executive Order, which raised our spirits.

Meant to be an incentive for trade partners to negotiate reciprocal trade deals with the United States, Annex III lists products that could have duties reduced to Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) rates, for trading partners with whom reciprocal trade and security agreements are concluded. Among the products listed in the new annex are loose natural diamonds (custom codes HS 7102.10, 7102.31, 7102.39) and natural gemstones (custom codes HS 7103.10.20, 7103.40, 7103.91.00).

Some countries or trading zones of major importance to the gemstone trade have already concluded reciprocal trade deals, among them the European Union and Thailand. But others have not. The latter include India, upon which President Trump initially imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports, which was raised to 50 percent in August 2025. Nonetheless, both sides have recently indicated that trade talks are continuing, and the goal is to reach a deal by November of this year.

PHOTO CREDIT: Left: black Australian opal (F. Mazzero) / Right:Fei Cui pendant (On Tung)

Two material-specific guides to be featured in Paris

Year in and year out, the primary task of the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission is to review, and if necessary revise the Coloured Stone Blue Book, which is one of the definitive set of sector-specific directories that outline trade rules, standards and nomenclature for precious stones and jewellery. These living documents – for the process of devising them is always ongoing – are available for downloading free of charge on the CIBJO website at: www.cibjo.org/the-blue-books/.

No revisions have been made to the current on-line edition ahead of the upcoming CIBJO Congress in Paris, however, a revision to the approved nomenclature for synthetic materials will be presented, and a comprehensive update of the Coloured Stone Blue Book is planned for 2026, with a revised version being presented during the CIBJO Congress in 2027.

But while an updated Blue Book will not be oresented, the second day of the congress will feature the results of two working groups operating under the guidance of the Coloured Stone Commission, which were created to produce new material-specific guides. A guide in the CIBJO world holds different status to a Blue Book, serving both an educational role and as a recommendation for best practices. In Paris we will discuss the CIBJO Opal Guide, and the CIBJO Jade Guide – A taxonomy for Fei Cui (翡翠), Jade, Jadeite, Nephrite, and Yu (玉).

Each of the guides’ working groups met regularly during the course of the past year, via Zoom teleconferences, to compile and organise all necessary information.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ethiopian opals (F. Mazzero)

The Opal Guide

Work on the Opal Guide began at the CIBJO Congress in Bangkok in 2017, when the late Andrew Cody presented the first draft. Since then, Australian gem associations have built on that legacy and submitted an updated proposal.

An international working group—comprising opal specialists from Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Ethiopia, industry leaders and representatives of major gemmological laboratories, have been involved in producing this remarkable document. Its members included Anthony Smallwood, Charles Abouchar, Emmanuel Fritch, Francesco Mazzero, Gaetano Cavallieri, Jenni Brammall, Kathy King, Ken Scarratt, Kurt Steffens, Nilam Alawdeen, Paulo Souza, Ronnie Bauer, Ruth Benjamin-Thomas, Steve Jaquiht, Tewodros Sintayehu and Terry Coldham.

The document outlines classification criteria for all opal varieties, treatment categories and disclosure requirements, and standardised terminology to ensure consistency across markets.

While the activities of the working group will be presented in Paris on the second morning of the CIBJO Congress on October 28, we plan to unveil the new Opal Guide at the CIBJO Congress in 2026.

PHOTO CREDIT: Left, A Fei Cui bangle featuring the trade term “Icy Zhong” (冰种) / right, a purple Fei Cui bangle described as lavender jadeite. (NGTTC, from the CIBJO Opal Guide 2025)

The Jade Guide

The concept of a producing a special guide to reconcile the terminology, identification and grading of jade in relation to the Fei Cui nomenclature used in East Asia, came about following multiple discussions between Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO, and various members of the Hong Kong Gemmological Association

Over a period of three years, following presentations were given by the HKGA during several CIBJO congresses, starting in Bahrain in 2019, it was agreed that a guide be produced under the leadership of the President of the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission.

Under the guidance the CIBJO President and the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission President, the following individuals have played pivotal roles in the construction of the guide, Kenneth Scarratt as Editor and President of CIBJO’s Sector A, Chen Xiaoming, Claudio Milisenda, Eddie Fan, Edward Liu, Emmanuel Fritsch, Hanco Zwaan, Horikawa Yoichi, Yang Junyi, Ken Fujita, Kent Wong, Michael Krzemnicki, Mimi Ouyang, Nilam Alawdeen, Norman Siu, Richard Hughes, Rui Galopim de Carvalho, Shane McClure, Song Zhonghua, Steven Benson, Su Jun, Tay Thye Sun, Thanong Leelawatanasuk, Thomas Lind, Yang Li Xin, and Yang Mingxing.

To enable the work of the group, fundamental materials and images were supplied by China’s National Gems & Jewelry Testing Co. Ltd. (NGTC).

Jade (or Fei Cui) holds profound historical and cultural value in Asia and Latin America, with trade practices and terminology that differ significantly between East and West. The working group has focused on harmonising trade names and grading systems for global clarity, refining the guide’s structure to reflect evolving market realities, and expanding content to cover both technical gemmological criteria and regional traditions.

A key challenge was balancing China’s four-decade-old, tradition-based standards with the Western gemmological benchmarks widely used by laboratories.

The Jade Guide is on track for presentation at the CIBJO Congress in 2026, but the work of the committee will also be featured during the morning session of the CIBJO Congress in Paris on October 28, 2025.

PHOTO CREDIT: Green and pink polished tourmaline (Charles Abouchar).

Updating synthetic materials nomenclature

In 2018, following intense lobbying mainly by a well-financed group of synthetic diamond producers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission updated its Jewelry Guides to allow “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created” as descriptive terms for man-made gemstones. In doing so, the FTC commissioners accepted the lobbyist’s contention that many consumers mistakenly understand the term “synthetic” to mean “fake.”

The result of this move was the adoption of “Laboratory-Grown” and “Laboratory-Created” throughout the gemstone trade, spreading confusion. Professionals committed to clear, consistent materials naming have continued to question the logic and transparency of this shift.

We have long taken issue with the FTC terminology. The CIBJO Blue Books define “synthetic” as artificial products matching their natural counterparts in chemical composition, physical properties, and structure.

We have felt that the descriptive terms “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created” lack precise definition and could be misapplied to any laboratory-produced substance, including glass or novel composites with no natural equivalent.

Furthermore, these materials are manufactured in industrial facilities — not research laboratories — making the terms misleading.

When the FTC-approved terms emerged, the Coloured Stone Commission added a note to the Blue Book definition of “synthetic,” emphasising that “synthetic” remains synonymous with “laboratory-created,” and “laboratory-grown.” Additionally, a caveat allows national associations to use only “synthetic” if local languages cannot directly translate the other phrases.

After extensive review, the Coloured Stone Commission has concluded that the introduction of the ill-defined FTC terminology ultimately undermined transparency across the supply chain, as well as for consumers. To remedy this, at the upcoming Paris Congress the commission will propose an amendment to restore exclusive use of “synthetic” for all materials meeting the Blue Book definition, and eliminating the descriptive terms “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created” from all CIBJO nomenclature.