CIBJO and Fairtrade International have signed a Memorandum of Understanding according to which Fairtrade commits to working with CIBJO and its member organisations to improving certified Fairtrade gold supplies to the jewellery markets and members of CIBJO-associated organisations, and CIBJO commits to facilitating and encouraging its members to adopt and integrate fairtrade gold and metals into their national supply chains.

The agreement was signed at the 2014 CIBJO Congress in Moscow by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri and Fairtrade International’s fairtrade gold coordinator, Greg Valerio.

Fairtrade International is an organisation whose goal is to raise work and living standards in developing countries, and at the same time create sustainable economic opportunities. In the gold and precious metals sector it works with poorer and marginalised small-scale and artisanal miners with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods through the creation of developmental standards, auditing of the chain of custody and certifying the finished product.

In working with artisanal mining sector, Fairtrade works to formalise small-scale mining;

eradicate mercury usage,thereby enhancing the state of the environment and public health; ensure that participants comply with internationally agreed-to conflict-free protocols; and eliminate both child labour and forced labour.

As part of the agreement, CIBJO and Fairtrade will work together to provide measurable developmental impacts for the small-scale and artisanal mining communities, and they will develop together educational programmes for the CIBJO membership and the greater jewellery industry, aimed at informing them about Fairtrade precious minerals and certification, and the contribution these are able to make in developing countries and regions.

Photo Caption: CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri (right) and Fairtrade’s Greg Valerio signing the MOU at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow.

Meeting in Moscow, the Pearl Commission  discussed a project being promoted by Jeanne Lecourt, a Vice President of the body, to create a Unified Pearl Grading System. She described her work over the past year, since the project was raised at the 2013 Congress, holding discussions with pearl trading companies.

Ms. Lecourt said  company representatives had been positive in their feedback, saying a universal language was needed, particularly at the retail level so that consumers received answers to their queries in the same common language wherever they are in the world.

Ms. Lecourt said she had not held talks with producers so far because she was waiting for the project to get off the ground and receive formal approval from the Pearl Commission.

The Commission had already agreed to set up a Working Group for the project at the 2013 Congress. Ms. Lecourt and Pearl Commission President Ken Scarratt invited delegates interested in being a member of the Working Group to fill in an application form.

Mr. Scarratt apologised for the one-year delay in getting the project off the ground since the past Congress, saying he had always carried out a Reason For Action exercise before going ahead with projects.

Mr. Scarratt reported to members of the Commission about changes that had been proposed to its Pearl Book. Among several changes to text were that in the weight definition, it would say: “If the drill hole of a natural pearl has been plugged, then it is important that this is stated when the weight is declared.”

Photo Caption: At the dais during the Pearl Commission meeting in Moscow, from left: Jeanne Lecourt, Pearl Commission Vice President; Shigeru Akamatsu,Pearl Commission Vice President; Kenneth Scarratt, Pearl Commission President; and Dr. Eduard Akhmetshin, of the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology in Russia.

CIBJO’s Sector B and C, which respectively deal with manufacturing and technology, and distribution at retail, met jointly at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow, and had as their themes security, jewellery manufacturing and Corporate Social Responsibility.

The meeting was led by Sector B’s Executive Vice President, Simon Rainer, who also serves as CEO of the British Jewellers’ Association.

The first speaker, Nigel Paxman, the CEO of secured transportation and logistics company Malca-Amit, described security as a subject that posed different challenges from country to country, city to city, and even on different streets. He said that although Western Europe was regarded as a generally safe place, it had suffered major, multi-million dollar thefts.

He cited the Brussels airport heist of February 2013 with the theft of $50 million in valuables, including diamonds. He also said there had been high-profile heists in London, Cannes, and further afield there had been unconventional thefts in Dubai and Hong Kong.

Mr. Paxman said criminals were daring and original in their approach, meaning the jewellery industry had to remain constantly vigilant. There had been thefts of expensive diamonds at trade shows that had taken place in as little as three seconds. In addition, jewellers had to be particularly observant and watchful when doing business with new potential clients.

Mr, Paxman said the jewellery was being aided by cutting-edge software and devices on the market that had previously only had military applications, while armoured vehicles had also become increasingly sophisticated in recent years.

He closed by urging jewellers to pack their precious stones and jewellery extremely carefully when dispatching them via air. “The airlines do not handle your goods with kid gloves in the way that we do. They throw the packages around despite them being valuables. This can cause scratches and damage to the goods inside the parcels if they are not packed properly.”

Speaking on the subject of jewellery manufacturing was Gay Penfold, Centre Manager Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC), Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. The theme of her speech was innovations in jewellery design and manufacturing.

She explained how the JIIC supports a wide cross section of industry through its research, knowledge transfer activities, training, mentoring and industry focused collaborative consultancy and projects. JIIC provides expert help in the use of highly complex CAD/CAM computerised design programmes, and laser technologies.

The centre’s clients include designer makers and start up businesses, small to medium size enterprises and large companies with a global presence from a wide range of industries, including architecture, animation, automotive, jewellery and silversmithing, micro engineering, museums, product and furniture design.

Professor Marylyn Carrigan, Co-Director of The Centre for Trust and Ethical Behaviour at the Coventry University Business School in the United Kingdom described how many firms had been hit by a consumer backlash after being discovered to have behaved in a way that was regarded as not being in the spirit of CSR. In addition, the proliferation of media channels meant poor corporate behaviour was likely to be widely reported, including on social media.

Professor Carrigan summarised CSR as being honest, doing no harm, being trustworthy and having a cooperative approach to competitors.

Ethical jewellery maker and seller Vivien Johnston, who established Fifi Bijoux, and is also a campaigner for ethical gold, spoke about her approach to business. After graduating from Glasgow School of Art, she became head of design for a commercial jewellery company. “They put me in charge of sourcing, and I didn’t like what I saw.”

She said she campaigns for the rights of mineral workers, and her label does not use gold, silver and platinum mined with cyanide and mercury.

Meanwhile, well-known campaigner Greg Valerio spoke on the issue of Fairtrade gold. By buying Fairtrade gold you are making a difference to the lives of small scale artisan miners and their communities, he said.

Mr. Valerio said that Fairtrade International is the world’s first independent ethical certification scheme for gold, and comes exclusively from artisanal and small-scale miners. He described how miners must meet standards on safety, worker rights and the environment, and that buying Fairtrade gold makes a substantial difference to the lives of miners, their families and their communities.

Buying jewellery with the Fairtrade gold stamp means you know the small-scale and artisanal miners were paid a fair price, which gives them financial security. They also receive an extra amount of money to invest in building the future of their families and their communities, through education, medical care or environmental projects, he said.

The final speaker of the session was Willie Hamilton, Sector C Executive Vice President and CEO of The Company of Master Jewellers in the United Kingdom. He called for a change in the attitude of the trade.

“The best thing to do if you want to find out is simply to ask. What are you selling, and where is it from. These are questions that you must be asking in order to be an ethical and transparent business, Mr. Hamilton said

Photo Caption: The Sector B and C session in session at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow.

CIBJO’s Sector A, which deals in gem materials, has accepted a proposal that a new commission be created, which will deal with issues related to the precious coral industry. The president of the newly created Coral Commission is  Enzo Liverino, and he has been charged with creating a Coral Blue Book, which lists acceptable nomenclature, descriptive terms and standards.

Congratulating Mr. Liverino, Sector A President Roland Naftule invited CIBJO  members to apply to join the body and contribute to its work.

The efforts of the Precious Stones Multi-Stakeholder Working Group (PS-MSWG) to create new chain of distribution regulations in the jewellery pipeline were widely discussed at the Sector A meeting.

President Roland Naftule said his first reaction upon hearing of the plans of the group was to ask why they were doing it in such a way. “This work should fall under the CIBJO umbrella since we are the representative body of the jewellery industry from across the world. CIBJO should serve as the body facilitating debate, but the PS-MSWG group does not agree.”

“They have their own reasons. They are trying to regulate some functions of the jewellery industry. Many people feel comfortable with their work but many others do not want to be regulated by the government. Some of aspects of their work go too far. There is a lot of concern about what the group is trying to achieve – and I don’t entirely understand their aims myself,” he added.

On other issues, Mr. Naftule said numerous updates of the Diamond, Coloured Stone and Pearl Blue Books had been carried out. As soon as the changes were accepted by the CIBJO Board, the books would be posted to the CIBJO website.

Coloured Stone Commission President Nilam Alawdeen pointed out that CIBJO recognises that its standards are subject to government regulation in the respective jurisdictions of CIBJO members. He proposed that Sector A accept the following wording in its Blue Books: “In the event that there are no government regulations in a member’s country, the local industry rule will take precedence as long as it stronger.”

Photo Caption: Enzo Liverino (second from left), President of the new Coral  Commission, during the Sector A meeting in Moscow. He seated with (from left): Nilam Alawdeen, President of the Coloured Stone Commission; Kenneth Scarrat, President of the Perl Commission; and Roland Naftule, Sector A President.

The two major issues discussed by the Gemmological Commission at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow were how gem labs worldwide can work together and harmonise nomenclature, standards and methodology to improve consistency and reliability of information to ensure consumer confidence, and the use of colour descriptive terms such as pigeon-blood red and royal blue on gemstone reports.

Ken Scarratt told the meeting that although he had originally been sceptical about the whole issue of the pigeon-blood red colour, GIA had consulted with traders and dealers around the world and examined their rubies to see if the colour was universally accepted and recognised.

With that being the case, the GIA decided to create the pigeon-blood red category.

Other participants warned of the dangers of trying to create a universally accepted definition of the pigeon-blood red colour, among them Ronnie Bauer from Australia. It was noted that market demand had pushed the gemstone industry to accept the colour definition in the same way that it had spurred the trade to provide country of origin information. Traders and sellers are also using the royal blue definition for a range of blue colour sapphires, the meeting heard.

On the issue of colour standards and definitions, Pornsawat Wathanakul of the Gem and Jewellery Institute of Thailand (GIT), also a Commission Vice President, talked about the GIT’s master sets for rubies and sapphires. She spoke about the difficulties gem labs face in setting colour standards.

Gemmological Commission President Hanco Zwaan confirmed that the issue of colour standards was a critical one, saying that the presentation illustrated the difficulties labs faced in attempting to describe colours precisely.

A second presentations at the meeting, presented by Commission Vice President Claudio Milisenda, was on the subject of opals from Ethiopia and how they could change colour simply by being immersed in water – in some cases for as little as two minutes.

Hydrophane Wollo stones revert to their original color 25 minutes after being removed from water, Mr. Milisenda explained. Opals from Ethiopia, he added, have a tendency to display surface cracks.

Photo Caption: CIBJO Gemmological Commission Vice President Claudio Milisenda describing opals from Ethiopia.

Meeting at the CIBJO Congress in Moscow, the Precious Metals Commission discussed at length the issue of the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and how it affects the jewellery industry’s use of gold in particular. It also reviewed the proposals on the issue from the European Union.

Susan Flamm, Senior Counsel at the U.S. Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC), spoke about the Dodd-Frank Act and how the legislation impacts publicly-held American companies which must report to the Securities and Exchange Commission on the gold they use in their products and where it is sourced. Publicly traded companies must submit filings with the due diligence efforts they have made on the issue by June 2, she explained.

Although there are only about 30 American companies which need to file, but problems arise from the fact that there are thousands firms supplying those companies.Each has to make extensive efforts to find out about suppliers – and companies which are, in turn, supplying them.

Flamm said the legislation has caused great confusion – and expense. A product is not necessarily conflict free if it has traveled through the Democratic Republic of Congo or neighbouring states. “Due diligence has to be in place to ensure that the minerals did not finance conflict,” she said.

She explained that various trade bodies such as chambers of commerce had filed court cases regarding the provisions of the law, saying that the demand that they place labels saying that the jewellery does not contain gold from the DRC was against the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which upholds the right to free speech.

However, an appeal court struck down most of the claims but asked that a lower court again look at the issue and how the wording can be changed and brought in line with the right to free speech, she said.

Commission President Michael Allchin said the U.S. government had pressured the EU to create similar legislation. However the EU was taking a different approach, looking at minerals defined by the OECD from anywhere in the world.

He said also that, due to the large demands of the Dodd-Frank Act, many companies that traded legitimately in the DRC and neighbouring states have pulled out, leaving the field free for gangsters to take control, leading to exploitation, child labor and other human rights abuses.

Mr. Allchin recounted how, along with CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri, he had travelled to the EU to discuss proposed legislation. The EU approach is to create a list of refiners and smelters which are operating legitimately with which jewellery companies should do business.

There was also a discussion on the issue of nickel and the EU nickel directive in 1998 that is being replaced by a 2011 directive. It was proposed that CIBJO members urge their National Standards Bodies to seek a temporary suspension of Appendix One of EN1811:2011 and a reintroduction of the 1998 directive. And also to seek compliance from national governments that products already in the supply chain before March 31, 2013 which comply with EN1811:1998 be regarded as compliant.

Mr. Allchin said that the CIBJO Congress in 2013, members had been asked to approach their national EU authorities on the issue and they had successfully done so.

Mr. Allchin notified members that he had decided to step down as Precious Metals Commission President and proposed that Stella Layton, Chief Executive and Assay Master at the Birmingham Assay Office in the United Kingdom, replace him until the 2015 Congress in Brazil, where new elections for the position will be held.

Photo Caption: Michael Allchin (right), President of the Precious Metals Commission, and John Henn, of the National Association of Goldsmiths of the United Kingdom, during the session of the Precious Metals Commission in Moscow.