CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, and the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today at the International Jewellery London Show (IJL).  The MOU will work to further advance responsible business practices among all sectors of the jewellery supply chain, and will include the use of CSR education programmes developed by CIBJO, in collaboration with the United Nations, and chain of custody certification programmes developed by RJC.

The MOU reflects the willingness of both organisations to collaborate on efforts to entrench a solid understanding and commitment from the jewellery industry, to improve its performance in the crucial areas of human rights, social and environmental performance and ethical business practices.

Among the key components of the MOU is the establishment of a MoU Working Group to oversee the execution of the agreement. The group will be headed by Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President, and James Courage, RJC Chairman. They will appoint two industry representatives from their respective organisations to address the synergies inherent in the cooperation between these two global groups.

“Our goal is to address proper business practise in the very broadest sense, and together CIBJO and RJC are able to provide comprehensive solutions,” said Dr. Cavalieri. “The prime beneficiaries of this agreement need to be the greater jewellery industry, jewellery consumers and all of our stakeholders to the very grass-roots level.”

“I am personally very pleased to be working with CIBJO and its President Gaetano Cavalieri and to be part of the MOU working group. I am sure there will be positive outcomes from this collaboration for the jewellery industry,” said Mr. Courage.

Photo caption 1: Gaetano Cavalieri (left), President of CIBJO, and James Courage, Chairman of RJC, following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding at the International Jewellery London Show.

CIBJO has announced the appointment of three veteran jewellery industry chief executives to key positions in the organisation’s Sector B, which covers areas of the jewellery business related to distribution, including retailing, and, and Sector C, which covers jewellery manufacturing, technology and precious metals.

Willie Hamilton, Chief Executive of the Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) in the United Kingdom, was appointed Executive Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector B. Simon Rainer, Chief Executive of the British Jewellers’ Association (BJA), who already was serving as a Sector C Vice President, was appointed as Executive Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector C. Michael Rawlinson, Chief Executive of the National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG) in the United Kingdom, was appointed as the third Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector B.

The position of a Sector Executive Vice President is a new one in CIBJO, and it will involve functioning as the chief executive of the division within the World Jewellery Confederation.

“Our objective in making these appointments is to inject new momentum and proven ability into these sectors, in order to increase their range of activities and improve the level of service that we provide the industry,” said Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President. “All three men are experienced industry association managers, and possess the knowledge and ability necessary to initiate and sustain change in a representative body like CIBJO. Furthermore, the dialogue that they engage in and their close working relationship will enhance the sectors’ ability to address issues of common concern.”

Willie Hamilton, the new Executive Vice President of Sector B, has led the CMJ, the United Kingdom’s largest buying group and co-operative of independent retail jewellers, for five years, during which its turnover increased from £28 million to just under £88 million. He previously worked in senior positions in marketing, buying, merchandising and operations within the world’s largest consumer co-operative, the Co-operative Group, and holds an MBA in Retailing.

Simon Rainer, the new Executive Vice President of Sector C, has been involved the UK and international jewellery industries for 17 years. As Chief Executive of the 1,100-member BJA, he has taken the lead in dealing issues such as supply chain transparency, mentoring, education, training, security and safety in the workplace. He also is a member of the British Standards STI/053 (Jewellery and Horology) Committee and sits on the advisory boards of the National Skills Academy, the Jewellery Industry and Innovation Centre and the IJL trade show. Simon also serves as President of CIBJO’s Association Executive Networking Commission (CAENCOM).

Michael Rawlinson, newly appointed Vice President of Sector B, joined NAG as its Chief Executive in April of this year. NAG represents 860 retail members with 2,277 retail stores in the United Kingdom. Before then he served as Director General of UKIE, the interactive entertainment association in the United Kingdom, where he developed new services for members, worked widely with related associations, and developed codes of practice. He is veteran retail and consumer goods industry executive, with experience of working together with government at the British and European Community levels, as well as with the media.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Willie Hamilton, Executive Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector B; Simon Rainer, Executive Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector C; and Michael Rawlinson, Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector B.

CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has reached an understanding with the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors (CIFA), according to which the two bodies will cooperate in enhancing responsible business practices and sustainability in their respective business sectors.

The understanding was reached at the High Level Segment of the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) between Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President, and Jean-Pierre Diserens, Secretary-General of CIFA. CIFA, like CIBJO, has special consultative status with ECOSOC.

The organisations agreed to conclude a formal cooperation agreement at a meeting of their joint leadership later this year. In the meantime, they will begin sharing information and expertise.

CIFA, which is headquartered in Geneva, is an NGO whose goals are to defend the investors’ interests and right to privacy and the financial advisors’ independence on national and international level.  It also endeavours to combat harmful practices in financial markets, while promoting strong ethical values and a sensible and sane regulation. CIFA is the possessor and custodian of the Charter of Investors’ Rights, which it deposited with the United Nations in 2008. CIFA federates worldwide 70 national associations and international federations. CIFA has held its Annual Forum in Monaco during the last week of April since 2011.

“Gold, platinum, palladium and silver have long been considered instruments of investment, and the same is increasingly true of diamonds, coloured gemstones and pearls, not to mention finished jewellery,” said Dr. Cavalieri. “Proper business principles defend the integrity and reputation of the product, whether it is sold primarily as an item of jewellery or as a unit of investment.”

“Furthermore, as CIBJO and CIFA have affirmed in their association with ECOSOC, both our business sectors have responsibility to society in general, and by extension to promoting the development programme of the United Nations. This also will be addressed jointly by our two organizations,” the CIBJO President said.

CIBJO is a currently preparing a “groundbreaking” Corporate Social Responsibility educational programme for the jewellery sector, which will be offered worldwide and promote the industry’s involvement in sustainable development, CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri has told a meeting in Geneva of world leaders. They were attending the High Level Segment of the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council.

The four-day High Level Segment opened ECOSOC’s 2013 Substantive Session, which began on July 1 and will close July 26. ECOSOC deals with the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges, and has responsibility for some 70 percent of the human and financial resources of the entire UN system. One of its key functions is to promote the Millennium Development Goals, which were set by the United Nations in 2000, and created specific targets for poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/AIDS and malaria reduction, as well as a global partnership for development. These are meant to be met by 2015.

CIBJO, which has been the jewellery industry’s sole representative in the body since 2006, was among only 78 non-government organisations to be invited to address the High Level Segment, from the 3,735 NGO’s that are recognized by ECOSOC. The meeting was opened by Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General; Vuk Jeremić, President of the UN General Assembly; and Néstor Osorio, President of ECOSOC.

In his statement to the High Level Segment, Dr. Cavalieri said that CIBJO shares a common vision with ECOSOC. “It seeks to increase innovative productivity, encourages the use of cutting-edge mining and jewellery processing technologies, and industrialization and downstream beneficiation in developing economies, leading to economic growth and the creation of decent jobs in the international jewellery industry. This will, in turn, contribute to eradicating poverty in regions in which we are particularly active, and specifically Africa,” he stated.

In developing the CSR educational programme, Dr. Cavalieri said in his presentation, CIBJO is joining forces with Fiera di Vicenza, one of the leading trade fair organisers in the international jewellery industry. “Through Fiera di Vicenza’s extensive international network, we aim to educate members of the industry about CSR, and specifically the obligations of businesses to promote sustainable development,” he stated. Contact has been made with one of Italy’s leading business schools concerning the preparation of courses and educational materials, he said.

“The proposed CIBJO-Fiera di Vicenza programme will be presented at the UN headquarters in the fall,” Dr. Cavalieri stated. “The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations will review this educational programme in the hopes of mainstreaming ethical business practices into many cultures.”

This year’s High Level Segment focussed on science, technology and innovation as agents for economic and social development. “The steadily increasing pace of technological innovation makes ours an era of a long profound change,” stated ECOSOC President Osorio, in his address to the session. “So many fields of human endeavour – medicine, energy, agriculture – have made significant, even drastic, improvements in just a few generations.”

Dr. Cavalieri made special mention of technological innovation in the jewellery industry in his address to the meeting, noting that it can serve as catalyst to narrow the gaps between emerging centres and established ones. Technology, he said, “enable the people in new centres to get the same value and with the same profitability, and also encourage companies in the developed centres to invest in developing centres.”

Photo Caption (ABOVE): CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri addressing the United Nation’s ECOSOC High Level Segment in Geneva.

Photo Caption (BELOW): CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri (right), joined by Néstor Osorio (centre), president of ECOSOC, and Lord Daniel Brennan QC, Chair of Britain’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Co-chair of the Washington think tank Global Financial Integrity, and a Member of the Advisory Board of the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors (CIFA), which like CIBJO has consultative status in ECOSOC.

A delegation of CIBJO members from European countries met in Brussels on Friday, June 28, with representatives of the European Commission, to discuss EU policy concerning precious mineral imports from conflict areas and the regulation of nickel used in jewellery production.

CIBJO’s EU Committee was established in May at the organisation’s annual congress, with the express purpose of liaising with the European Union about policies concerning the jewellery industry. It represents the interests of the jewellery sector from 12 European countries.

Led by Thilo Brückner of Germany, the group in Brussels included Christine Boquet, of France; Michael Allchin, Simon Rainer, Michael Rawlinson and James Riley of the United Kingdom; Giuseppe Aquilino, Steven Tranquilli and Marisa Ameli, of Italy; and Karina Ratzlaff of Germany. They were joined in Brussels by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri, who also chairs the EU Committee, and met with a team from the European Commission led by Tung-Lai Margue, the head of the body’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, and Joris Heeren, the leader of the Sanctions Team in the EC’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.

The meeting in Brussels took place against the backdrop of a new supply chain initiative by the European Commission aimed at responsible sourcing of minerals originating in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. The initiative builds on the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains, which covers minerals such as tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold.

During the meeting the CIBJO EU Committee called on the European Commission to acknowledge and accept the various voluntary initiatives and ethical standards developed and led by the jewellery and precious metals sectors. The competitiveness of the European jewellery sector must be protected, they said, and this may not be possible if additional certification procedures are imposed without any expected benefit. Above all, it was stressed, the fight against the illegal financing of conflicts would never be successful without a diplomatic approach and a political solution.

The CIBJO EU Committee suggested that the European Commission considers the unintended consequences of the Dodd Frank Act from the United States, which has resulted in many companies selecting to source gold outside of Africa’s Great Lakes Region, in order to avoid having to deal with the stringent provenance requirements. The CIBJO members described this as a “de facto embargo,” and they said that the primary victims have been legitimate gold producers and members of the local populations, who have seen employment and economic opportunities in the region tumble.

The CIBJO EU Committee also raised the subject of the European Union’s REACH Regulations, which concern the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals. In particular, it referred to EN 1811:1998, which is the revised legal standard for testing articles for compliance with nickel release limits, which became effective in the EU from March 31, 2013, replacing the earlier standard from 1998.

EN 1811:2011 is applicable to articles intended to come into prolonged and direct contact with the skin. It therefore applies to most articles of jewellery and watches. Ear-rings and other types of jewellery used in body piercings have even lower permitted release limits than articles worn against the skin.

The REACH regulation, Annex XVII restricts the nickel release to 5.00 micrograms per centimetre squared per week for articles intended to come into with prolonged and direct contact with the skin, and 2.00 micrograms for post assemblies inserted into the skin. The new standard changed the way in which test results from the approved method were interpreted, doing away with the old correction factor of 0.1 and instead applying a measurement of uncertainty. In reality this means that the compliance level for nickel release has been reduced to 0.28 micrograms for articles with prolonged and direct contact with the skin, and 0.11 micrograms for post assemblies inserted into the skin. Unfortunately, because of the new application of a measurement of uncertainty, articles releasing between 0.28 and 0.88 micrograms must be considered as “undecided” because they do not fail the requirements of the regulations, and the same for piercings between 0.11 and 0.35.

CIBJO’s national members are urging their respective national standards bodies to seek a nickel release compliance level of 0.88 micrograms centimetres squared per week for watches, bracelets, necklaces and rings, 0.35 micrograms squared per week for ear-ring and body piercing jewellery inserted in the skin. The CIBJO EU Committee also called on the EU to regard products already in the supply chain prior to March 31, 2013, and which conform to EN 1811:1998, as being compliant.

Other topics discussed were Corporate Social Responsibility and planned regulations concerning product safety and market surveillance.

Photo Caption: Participants at the CIBJO EU Committee meeting at the European Commission (from left):  Joris Heeren, the leader of the Sanctions Team in the EC’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments; Marisa Ameli, Italy; Michael Rawlinson, UK; Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO President; Simon Rainer, UK; James Riley, UK;  Tung-Lai Margue, head of the EC’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments; Karina Ratzlaff, Germany; Thilo Brückner, Germany; and Christine Boquet, France.

The presidents of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, Ernest Blom and Gaetano Cavalieri, signed today a cooperation agreement, according to which the two organisations will strive to coordinate positions, with the aim of positively influencing developments in the international diamond and jewellery sectors.

The agreement was signed at the Presidents’ Meeting of the WFDB, which is taking place in Istanbul, Turkey. It was witnessed by Eli Izhakoff, president of the World Diamond Council, who also serves as honorary life president of both the WFDB and CIBJO.

According to the agreement, while the WFDB and CIBJO will both continue to maintain full independence, they aim to coordinate positions in the areas of gemmological standards and nomenclature; standards and methods of disclosing of treated, enhanced, synthetic and simulated diamonds and gemstones; and Corporate Social Responsibility, good governance and sustainability, including the Kimberley Process. They also will share knowledge, information and assessments about developments in the international diamond and jewellery markets, protecting the integrity of our members worldwide.

“This agreement recognises that in the current environment, no single sector of our industry operates in a vacuum,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. “Through cooperation and coordination, we will be better able to serve our members, our customers and our stakeholders.”

“By creating a proper framework in which we can discuss developments and formulate policies and strategies, we will promote a more efficient and more responsive industry,” said WFDB President Ernest Blom. “Ultimately, this will serve the confidence of consumers both in our products and our industry.”

“I congratulate both presidents and both organisations on this important agreement,” said Eli Izhakoff.  “If we have learned one thing in recent years, it is that the chain of distribution is only as strong as its weakest link. The agreement is meant to ensure that there are fewer potential weak links.”

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ernest Blom, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses; Eli Izhakoff, president of the World Diamond Council; and Gaetano Cavalieri, president of CIBJO.