Online registration is now open for two sets of social tours being offered to delegates and accompanying persons, respectively just prior to and during the CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, which will take place May 4 to May 6.

Pre-congress guided tours are offered to all congress participants on Saturday, May 2, 2015, and Sunday, May 3, 2015. The first, which will take place on May 2, will be a half-day tour of Salvador itself, focusing on the Cidade Baixa (low city), the famous Church of Bonfim, and Mercado Modelo, a thriving market for local handicrafts.

The second pre-congress tour, on May 3, will last a full day, will take participants to the northern coast of Bahia, which is an area known as the Costa dos Coqueiros (Coconut Coast). There they will visit the village of Praia do Forte, known as the Brazilian Polynesia, visit a turtle farm and get a chance to sample some of the country’s most beautiful beaches.

The tours during the CIBJO Congress itself are offered to accompanying persons.  The first, on May 4, is a full day tour around the city of Salvador. Starting at the Farol da Barra, which is now Museu Náutico da Bahia (Nautical Museum), it travels through the neighbourhoods made famous by the city’s celebrated carnival, and visit the Pelourinho, which has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Moving from Salvador upper city to lower city, it will conclude in the area of the Forte de São Marcelo (São Marcelo Fort), which was built by the Portuguese to repel a Dutch invasion in in 1650.

Accompanying persons will be treated to a shopping day on May 5.

A fee per person will be charged for the pre-congress tours. The accompanying person’s programme is provided without charge by the congress host, IBGM.

For more information and online registration, CLICK HERE.

A Mine Tour Programme is also being offered after the congress, from May 7 to May 10. Information about that tour, as well as a registration form, can be obtained on the CIBJO Congress 2015 website.

Photo Caption: A taste of the CIBJO Congress 2015 Social tour programme (from left): Looking out over the Cidade Baixa (low city) of Salvador; a beach at Praia do Forte on the Costa dos Coqueiros (Coconut Coast); and the Pelourinho in Salvador, which has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Gemmological Commission, headed by Hanco Zwaan, the report looks at issues related to nomenclature and identification, and in particular how these have contributed to alleged inconsistencies in the results reported by different laboratories.

Although it is recognized that laboratories may differ in their approaches and opinions on the wording used on reports, it should be recognized that work has already been done in harmonizing methods and nomenclature, in the CIBJO Blue Books and in the sheets produced by the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee (LMHC), Mr. Zwaan writes.

The Special Report also relates to the pressures placed on laboratories to grade gemstones using commercial terms, like “pigeon blood red” for rubies and “royal blue” for sapphires. “The objective is to find common ground and ways to move forward to formulate standards in this area that can be widely accepted and used,” Mr. Zwaan notes.

To download a full copy of the report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Photo Caption: ‘Improved’ lead glass-filled rubies, marketed under the name ‘Organic Ruby’, which will be discussed at CIBJO Congress in Brazil during the session of the Gemmological Commission. (Photo: Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory)

Representatives of leading gem laboratories will join diamond, gemstone and jewellery industry leaders in Salvador, Brazil, on May 6, for a special conference on the first day of the 2015 CIBJO Congress, which will focus specifically on the standards and practices used by grading laboratories in the industry, and the quality of the grading reports they produce. More specifically they will consider the divergence of standards and results that are prevalent in the industry.

“Over the past two decades, changing business conditions and evolving consumer expectations have resulted in diamond, coloured stone and pearl laboratory reports to become necessities in our trade,” wrote CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri and CIBJO Vice President and Sector A President Roland Naftule, in their invitation to participants. “But while their use is universal, the standards and systems according to which they are compiled are not. Inconsistencies in grading, reporting, identification and determination of country of origin are often widespread between laboratories, and even sometimes within the same organisations. This is creating significant problems for our trade and, if not contained, the gravity of the situation will seriously affect consumer confidence at every level.”

Participants at the conference will discuss a CIBJO recommendation that an international committee of gemmological laboratory representatives from around the globe be created to discuss methods that could result in more consistent and reliable gemmological laboratory reports. Such a committee could consist of 12 to 14 members, four to six of which could become permanent, with the balance rotating in a well-defined manner.

Discussion of benchmarks for gemmological laboratories, and creating a system of dispute resolution will also be discussed.

With fewer than six weeks to go to the opening of the 2015 CIBJO Congress in Salvador, Brazil, on May 4, 2015, the fourth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission, headed by Nilam Alawdeen, the report looks at the impact of measures being introduced ensure that coloured gemstones are sourced in ethical manner.

In many cases, Mr. Alawdeen writes, the primary objective appears to be using ethical sourcing as a marketing tool, where the goal is more to increase sales, rather than looking out for the welfare of local communities. “The energies and finances spent in publicising such efforts are in many cases more than what appears to have been invested in actual grassroots welfare,” he writes.

“Just as there is no traffic rule that can be universally applied, since conditions differ in many countries, approaches have to be localized,” Mr. Alawdeen continues. “Policies have to be made in consultation with local industry and governments, otherwise it will appear to be a repeat of what took place in countries that experienced colonial rule, where rulings were resented for no other reason than that they were imposed. Time also has to be given for solutions to be accepted and realised. A top-down-only approach will be counterproductive.”

To download a full copy of the report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.