Whereas it once was regarded by many as an optional alternative in the jewellery and gemstone industry, systematic and verifiable ethical business standards is today considered a core requirement. The practical implementation of these standards will be the subject of a seminar and workshop that will take place at the VICENZAORO January show in Vicenza Italy. It will presented by two of the industry’s leading experts.

 Entitled “Social Responsibility as the New Reality: Best Practice Initiatives, Tools and Business Success,” the seminar is  organised by CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, and Fiera di Vicenza, and will take place on Sunday, January 25, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Pavilion 7.1, Room 7.1.2b, at Fiera di Vicenza. It is being held within the framework of CIBJO and Fiera di Vicenza’s association with the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is dedicated toward the development of educational programmes promoting Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability in the international jewellery and gemstone sectors.

The seminar presenters are Greg Valerio, a British jeweller who pioneered ethical and fair trade business practices, and is the founder of CRED Jewellery, which became Europe’s first jewellery company to retail fair trade green gold and platinum jewellery collections, and a co-founder of Fair Jewellery Action, which aims to make ethically sourced jewellery the only moral choice for consumers and suppliers; and legal expert Dr. Donald Feaver, the Chief Technology Officer of Branded Trust Assurance Systems and  a Director of the Branded Trust Foundation. Branded Trust Assurance Systems, in association with CIBJO and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, has developed a suite of online courses as well Social Responsibility Management tools including a comprehensive ethical market and transparent supply-chain and chain of custody solution.

Also participating will be Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO; James Riley, CEO of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A); and Vivien Johnston, Chair of the Jewellery Ethics Committee in the United Kingdom.

In the first part of seminar, Mr. Valerio will discusses the new ethical realities for jewellers and suppliers, some of the key responsible sourcing initiatives available to jewellers, such as Fairtrade Gold, conflict free sourcing, transparency and traceability disciplines, and also practical steps that businesses can take to become leading “best practice” companies.

In the second part, Dr. Feaver will explain how a new era of Social Responsibility (SR) is quickly emerging. He will identify the types of businesses that are seizing this opportunity, the new breed of business leaders that are making this happen and the new tools they are using to accelerate their businesses to SR “best practice.”

“Over the last 10 years, the mining and jewellery trades have come under increasing ethical scrutiny from campaign organisations, governments, and voluntary civil society movements,” explained Mr. Valerio. “Business as usual for jewellers is now a thing of the past.”

“Traditional paper-based ‘certification’ approaches are fast becoming tools of the old era,” said Dr. Feaver. “New approaches are more constructive, and a focus on business improvement through Social Responsibility has the potential to deliver a higher Return on Investment. The new approaches are more holistic with targeted tools for ‘people, companies and products.'”

The Panama Diamond Exchange and CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, have agreed to join forces in providing educational programs for the gemstone and jewelry sectors in Latin America, instilling the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility. To seal the agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Panama by Eli Izhakoff, PDE’s Founding Chairman, and Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President.

Party to the agreement is the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), which was established by CIBJO with the assistance of the United Nations, with the goal of educating members of the diamond, gemstone and jewelry industries about the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility, and how they may implement them in their businesses.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the educational programs, which will be delivered in Panama and elsewhere in the region, will include seminars, workshops and conferences, covering the principles of ethical business practices, supply chain integrity and social, economic and environmental sustainability. As has been the case with similar programs organized by CIBJO and WJCEF, specialist instructors endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council may participate. Graduates will receive diplomas bearing the official seal of WJCEF.

“For PDE this is an important milestone, for we consider the establishment of ethical business structures in Latin America to be part of our mission,” said Mr. Izhakoff. “To optimize their real potential, the gemstone and jewelry industries in the region need to be fully engaged with the international trade, and in today’s environment that means complying with strict proper business standards and transparency. It is to help them achieve this that the agreement was concluded.”

“We are delighted to be joining with PDE in this program, which we believe will not only promote CSR and sustainability in the Latin American countries, but also will accelerate their growth and their share of the region’s luxury product markets,” said Dr. Cavalieri.  “Just as we are convinced that the gemstone and jewelry industry will benefit directly from the physical and commercial infrastructure that is being in developed in Panama, so do we believe that it will profit from a business that is managed in a principled manner.”

The Panama Gem & Jewelry Center, which is anchored by PDE, the region’s only recognized diamond exchange, is the largest and most ambitious development project ever undertaken on behalf of the jewelry and gemstone trades in Latin America. Serving as a trading hub for both regional and international companies, the center will serve a market that today is worth $8 billion.

Photo Caption: CIBJO President Getano Cavalieri (left) and PDE Founding Chairman Eli Izhakoff signing the MOU.

CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has held a meeting in London with The Right Honourable John Gummer, Lord Deben, Chairman of the ethical trade consultancy Sancroft, during which he discussed CIBJO’s educational programme for a environmentally and socially responsible jewellery industry, which was outlined at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow in May.

A renowned authority on environmental sustainability, Lord Deben served at different times as the British Secretary of State for the Environment, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and Chair of the Conservative Party before entering the House of Lords in 2010 as a Conservative peer in 2010.

Also attending the meeting were Adrian Gahan, Managing Director Sancroft International, and Vivien Johnston, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A) and Chair of the Jewellery Ethics Committee of the United Kingdom.

“Lord Deben has been a pioneering figure in the sustainability field in the United Kingdom, and being able to sit down with him provided both opportunity to learn, as well as to explain what we would like to achieve in the jewellery sector,” said Dr. Cavalieri, after the meeting. “For many years, our view of Corporate Social Responsibility was almost entirely focused on protecting the integrity of the chain of distribution. This is critically important, of course, but as members of a greater society we have other obligations as well, and that includes providing a healthy and sustainable environment for future generations.”

The issue of how companies can reduce the amount of pollution they create was the primary focus of CIBJO’s  Marketing and Education Commission at the CIBJO Congress in May, and prior to the event CIBJO measured its carbon footprint, to serve as an example to the industry.

In February Dr. Cavalieri had introduced CIBJO’s environmental doctrine at the Pacific Precious Coral Forum in Taiwan, where he stressed that the industry needs to let the world know that it “and the environmentalists are on the same side, and that the rising carbon dioxide emissions which warm the oceans and irresponsible harvesting methods, all of which endanger the reefs, are our enemies as well as theirs.”

In June, he addressed the issue of environmental sustainability in the cultured pearl sector at the Sustainable Pearls Forum in Hong Kong, noting that “when consumers buy an item of pearl jewellery, they should feel that they have invested in our planet’s long-term survival, rather than having taken advantage of it.”

Photo Caption: Lord Deben (right), Chairman of the Chairman of the UK-based ethical trade consultancy Sancroft,, standing together with Gaetano Cavalieri (centre), CIBJO President, and Vivien Johnston, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A) and Chair of the Jewellery Ethics Committee of the United Kingdom.