OCTOBER 6, 2021

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2021 CIBJO Congress on November 1, 2021, the fifth of this year’s CIBJO Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO’s new Technology Committee, headed by Stephane Fischler, the report focuses on disruptive technological breakthroughs in the jewellery and gemstone industry and trade, for which in the words of the author “it is possible to talk about the way things were before the innovation and how they were afterwards.”

As Mr. Fischler notes, for much of its history disruptive technological breakthroughs were concentrated in jewellery’s mining and manufacturing sectors, whereas the wholesale and retail trades continued to operate according to tried and proven business models. That began to shift with the growth of the Internet as a sales tool and the start of social media marketing, but even then many remained apprehensive because of uncertainty whether consumers were ready to purchase high-priced items online. However, 2020 and the start of the global pandemic proved to be a gamechanger. “With trading establishments intermittently prevented from opening their doors because of COVID-19 lockdowns and, even when they were not, restricted in the number of people they could permit on their premises, online marketing and sales capacity became a necessity, rather than an alternative for the more tech-savvy,” he writes.

The changes taking place in the trade, and particularly at the retail level, have turned consumer data into one the industry’s most valued commodities, Mr. Fischler states. For an organisation like CIBJO, which is concerned with global practices, this raises new questions. “Standards need to be created for how [data] is handled. How should it be securely stored, analysed and ultimately used? These are discussions taking place across the tech-world, and issues of controversy confounding the industry, the public and government regulators,” he writes.

CIBJO congresses serve as the official gathering place for the World Jewellery Confederation’s global membership, and are also the venue for the annual meetings of CIBJO’s sectoral commissions, where amendments can be introduced to the organisation’s definitive directories of international industry standards for diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, gem labs, precious metals, coral and responsible sourcing, known as the Blue Books.

The CIBJO Congress is also where the programme of World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), relating to responsible and sustainable activities in the industry and CIBJO’s ongoing cooperation with the United Nations and its development programme is reported upon.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Technology Committee’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

With fewer than five weeks to go to the opening of the 2021 CIBJO Congress on November 1, 2021, the fourth of this year’s CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Diamond Commission, headed by Udi Sheintal, the report focuses on a three-part process to establish comprehensive standards for diamonds through the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). This is a project in which CIBJO has been closely involved.

As Mr. Sheintal recalls in the report, the first breakthrough in the process occurred in 2015, when ISO published International Standard 18323, which specified a set of permitted descriptors for the diamond industry that are meant to be unequivocally understood by consumers. It clarified that that “the denomination ‘diamond’ without further specification always implies ‘natural diamond.’”

The second milestone was registered in September 2020, when ISO published International Standard 24016, specifying the terminology, classification and the methods to be used for the grading and description of single unmounted polished diamonds over 0.25 carats in weight. The third part of the process is currently underway, and once complete will result in International Standard 6893. It will detail methods and terminology for the quality control of diamonds of 0.25 carats and less.

The convener of the CEN 410 Working Group, which prepared the European standard that ISO adopted unchanged to create EN ISO 18323 in 2015 was Harry Levy, Vice President of the CIBJO Diamond Commission, to whom there is special tribute in the report. The convener of TC174 Working Group 2 both for International Standard 18323 and now for the prospective International Standard 6893 is Jean-Pierre Chalain, the Diamond Commission’s other Vice President.

“When International Standard 6893 is eventually published by ISO, a complete set of standards for the diamond industry will have been achieved, a truly historic accomplishment,” Mr. Sheintal writes in the report. “But since standards are enforced at the country level, the most desirable consequence would be that these international standards would be used to create equivalent national standards.”

CIBJO congresses serve as the official gathering place for the World Jewellery Confederation’s global membership, and are also the venue for the annual meetings of CIBJO’s sectoral commissions, where amendments can be introduced to the organisation’s definitive directories of international industry standards for diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, gem labs, precious metals, coral and responsible sourcing, known as the Blue Books.

The CIBJO Congress is also where the programme of World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), relating to responsible and sustainable activities in the industry and CIBJO’s ongoing cooperation with the United Nations and its development programme is reported upon.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Diamond Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

With fewer than six weeks to go to the opening of the 2021 CIBJO Congress on November 1, 2021, the third of this year’s CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Precious Metals Commission, headed by Huw Daniel, the report reviews the year in the gold, platinum, palladium and silver markets and looks at how they fared in a world economy in the shadow of a pandemic.

“In many ways the pandemic has simply accentuated the roles these metals have always played in providing a safe haven to investors,” Mr. Daniel wrote. “Yet, we also see new trends emerging in new applications, with new gold and platinum jewellery alloys that are pushing the boundaries of design, ensuring their precious allure will continue to capture the eyes and hearts of a new generation of consumers.”

In general, all four precious metal markets experienced robust sales, with prices rebounding from the lows they had experienced during the disruptive turmoil of 2020. Because all four metals are considered safe haven investment assets, they experienced what appeared to be a temporary dip in value following a meeting in July of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), where the possibility of tapering, or a reduction in the pace of monthly bond purchases, was discussed.

A clear factor in creating robust market conditions was the strong recovery in jewellery demand, and innovation in the development of new products and the savvy use of social media marketing. The result of these innovations in China, writes Mr. Daniel, “has been to revitalize sales of pure gold (23 and 24 karat) at the expense of 18K gold, as new levels of hardness permit greater design innovation at these more attractive purity levels.”

The CIBJO Precious Metals Commission President also noted a growing tendency by both government and NGOs to maintain close scrutiny over supply chain integrity. He points to the upcoming review of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission of its Green Guides, scheduled for next year. “The Green Guides regulate environmental claims made across industries, not just in jewellery – and the FTC’s revision process will be the source of any changes it makes going forward,” he notes.

CIBJO congresses serve as the official gathering place for the World Jewellery Confederation’s global membership, and are also the venue for the annual meetings of CIBJO’s sectoral commissions, where amendments can be introduced to the organisation’s definitive directories of international industry standards for diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, gem labs, precious metals, coral and responsible sourcing, known as the Blue Books.

The CIBJO Congress is also where the programme of World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), relating to responsible and sustainable activities in the industry and CIBJO’s ongoing cooperation with the United Nations and its development programme is reported upon.

To download a full copy of the CIBJO Precious Metals Commission’s special report, PLEASE CLICK HERE.