Responsible environmental practices in coral and pearl sectors focus of CIBJO/Italian Trade Commission seminar in Hong KongClick PDF icon on left to download document
Corporate Social Responsibility strategies for jewellery industry come under spotlight at seminar at VICENZAORO January showClick PDF icon on left to download document
CIBJO President guest of honour at EXPO Joya in Guadalajara, Mexico, endorses agreement promoting Latin American jewellery association cooperationClick PDF icon on left to download document
ABOVE: Members of the speakers’ panel during the CSR seminar in Vicenza (from left): Paolo Cesari, President of Assogemme; Dr Donald Feaver, Chief Technical Officer of Branded Trust Assurance Systems; Ian Harebottle, CEO of GemFields PLC; Eduardo Escobedo, Executive Director of the Responsible Ecosystems Sourcing Platform (RESP); and Dr Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO.
JANUARY 24, 2016
Corporate Social Responsibility strategy in the gemstone and jewellery sectors came under focus at a well-attended seminar conducted during the VICENZAORO January trade show, in Vicenza, Italy, on January 24. The seminar was part of CIBJO’s and Fiera di Vicenza’s joint programme to promote CSR education in the jewellery sector, and also was supported by Gemfields PLC, the world’s largest coloured gemstone mining company.
The basic premise of the seminar is that, in the current business environment, CSR no longer is a practice that one chooses to follow or not. It has become a required component of every company and organization in the industry, which individually must be able to describe its approach, and if possible quantify it. There was a special focus on the coloured gemstone sector, with three of the speakers associated with that industry.
The panel of speakers at the seminar included:
The moderator of the seminar was Steven Benson, CIBJO’s Director of Communications.
“To present your company as a firm with a social conscience not presents it in a positive light, but also communicates to consumers that, when they buy jewellery, they are making a positive contribution to society,” said Mr. Facco, during his introduction. “In the modern business environment it is not enough to just behave correctly, you have to be seen to be behaving correctly.”
“Through Corporate Social Responsibility we can safeguard the long-term health of our industry”” Dr. Cavalieri said in his address. “By showing our commitment to our stakeholders, demonstrating that they too will be provided with fair and equitable opportunities to benefit from the jewellery enterprise, they will be incentivised to invest and reinvest in their future and that of the entire industry.
Download the presentations delivered at the CSR seminar:
ABOVE: CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri (fifth from left), joins Miguel Cotero (sixth from left), President of Cámara de Joyería y Platería de Jalisco, and the Mexican State of Jalisco’s Governor, Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz (seventh from left) at the official opening of the Fashion Minerva promotional event at the Expo Joya show in Guadalajara.
OCTOBER 12, 2015
CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has drawn attention to the growing prominence of Latin America in the international jewellery business, and in particular to the role that is being played by Mexico, the region’s most valuable luxury product market. He was participating at a gathering of political and business leaders, as well as jewellers from across the Americas, during the Expo Joya show in Guadalajara, where he was a guest of honour of the Cámara de Joyería y Platería de Jalisco.
During the event, Dr Cavalieri both witnessed and endorsed a memorandum of understanding signed by jewellery associations from Mexico, Peru and Colombia, pledging increased multilateral cooperation. The event was attended by representatives of industry organisations from other Latin American countries.
“The realisation that Latin America is an increasingly prominent force in our business – not only as a producer of raw materials, but also as jewellery designer, manufacturer and consumer market – has increased significantly in recent years,” said Dr Cavalieri, who also urged his counterparts to raise their level of their involvement in the global jewellery business.
“To realize your potential, Latin America need to be fully integrated into the international jewellery industry, and that requires that you strictly abide by the required standards and practices, a great many of which are defined within CIBJO,” Dr Cavalieri said. “But this does not mean that you should be dictated to. CIBJO is an inclusive organisation, and we invite all of you to be involved in our deliberations and activities.”
The city of Guadalajara, the financial capital of the Mexican State of Jalisco, is a central player in the Mexican jewellery industry, generating more than 20,000 jobs directly and indirectly and producing about 70 percent of the country’s gold and silver jewellery. The city is home to more than 1,500 jewellery points of sale and is the venue of Expo Joya, Latin America’s largest jewellery fair. The region of Jalisco is also a significant producer of raw materials, delivering about 7.5 tons of gold and 140 tons of silver per annum.
The status of Guadalajara, in the Mexican jewellery sector in particular and in the luxury product markets in general, was the theme of a fashion week, organised under the auspices of Fashion Minerva, a state-supported programme promoting the jewellery, clothing, footwear and textiles sectors. Dr Cavalieri and Miguel Cotero, President of Cámara de Joyería y Platería de Jalisco, participated in the opening of the event, together with Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz, Governor of the State of Jalisco, and Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, Mayor of Guadalajara.
“With a population in excess of 122 million people and a retail sector that is growing at an annually compounded rate of close to 5 percent, Mexico is on the cusp of becoming a world-class market,” said Mr Cotero. “As an industry, we are committed to making our presence felt, both in Latin America and internationally, serving as a generator of economic growth and a model of ethical business and Corporate Social Responsibility. We consider our involvement in the public governance of the industry, through CIBJO, as a key component of that process.”
Enzo Liverino, President of the CIBJO Coral Commission.
OCTOBER 7, 2015
CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has released online its latest Blue Book, delineating acceptable trade practices and nomenclature for the coral industry and trade. The document was compiled by the CIBJO Coral Commission, headed by Commission President Enzo Liverino, under the auspices of CIBJO’s Sector A, which has jurisdiction over gem materials.
The Coral Book can be downloaded in PDF format from the CIBJO website by CLICKING HERE.
The new Blue Book is comprehensive, classifying both non-treated and treated corals, and also artificial products that imitate and/or include coral elements. Normative terms that should be used to describe coral and disclose treatments are listed, as is the terminology that should be applied to define associated artificial products. Methods of maintaining the quality of coral jewellery are provided and the various types of different precious coral species are itemised.
Because of the unique nature of coral, which is an organism grown in nature without human intervention, the Coral Book includes reference to the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which entered into force in 1975 to address concerns that many living species were becoming endangered because of commerce between countries. The document also outlines national and regional regulations promoting the sustainable harvesting of coral.
The Coral Book is the sixth in the Blue Book series, and joins the definitive sets of grading standards and nomenclature for diamonds, gemstones, pearls, precious metals, and gemmological laboratories. Each is compiled and updated by relevant CIBJO Commissions, whose members include representatives of trade organisations and laboratories active in the industry.
The Blue Books represent a consensus derived from the broad expertise on the subject within each commission, and also from individuals outside the commissions who had expressed an interest in participating in the development of the guidelines. In the almost complete absence of jewellery industry standards endorsed by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the CIBJO Blue Books are the most widely accepted set of globally accepted standards.
“The Coral Blue Book is an additional tool developed by CIBJO to ensure ethical business practices and transparency in the jewellery business,” said Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President. “It focuses on a sector that operates in a very fragile eco-environment, where proper standards and methods of operation are absolutely essential. I congratulate Enzo Liverino and his colleagues in the Coral Commission not only for their vision and effort, but also for the contribution they have made to our industry.”
“Although coral has been featured in jewellery for millennia, it remains a product that is not widely understood,” said Mr Liverino. “Our goals in producing the Coral Book of course included creating common sets of standards, practices and nomenclature, similar to those which have been created by CIBJO for other sectors of the industry, but also to address important issues of environmental responsibility and sustainability that are specific to coral. It has been a privilege working with the team on the Coral Commission. This is a milestone for all of us.”
“This is an important document that has provided a proper framework and set of references for the coral sector, corresponding to those that have been established for other sectors in our industry,” said Roland Naftule, CIBJO Vice President and President of Sector A. “It is important to note that its release represents but the end of the first stage in an on-going journey. Each Blue Book is a living document, which is reviewed constantly, and updated and amended when necessary.”
In addition to the Coral Book, CIBJO’s Sector A has recently released online the updated editions of the Diamond Book, the Gemstone Book and the Pearl Book.
The 2015 edition of Diamond Book can be downloaded in PDF format from the CIBJO website by CLICKING HERE.
The 2015 edition of the Gemstone Book can be downloaded in PDF format from the CIBJO website by CLICKING HERE.
The 2015 edition of the Pearl Book can be downloaded in PDF format from the CIBJO website by CLICKING HERE:
