October 18, 2017

With fewer than three weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the seventh of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Kenneth Scarratt, President of the organisation’s Pearl Commission, the report highlights a worrying trend that is largely evident in the social media, whereby marketers are implying and sometimes stating directly that cultured pearls are natural.

Typically, Mr. Scarratt said, this deceptive practice is being carried out by the perpetrators choosing to use omit the word “cultured” to describe the product, but, in the case of coloured freshwater pearls, they are sometimes being described as “natural pearls.”

“When challenged, the individuals making such incorrect statements admit that what they are referring to is the ‘natural colour’ of these cultured pearls, rather than their growth origin. However, this hardly excuses the unprofessional marketing tactics being employed. It seems that ignorance – and I write this in the truest sense of its meaning –  abounds within certain segments of the cultured pearl sales community,” Mr. Scarratt writes.

“The maxim seems to be ‘find and use the best wording that sells the product’ and pay little attention to whether or not such statements are deceptive,” he adds.

The Pearl Commission Special Report also describes a new initiative taken by the government of Bahrain to grant limited pearl fishing licenses to underwater divers, and discusses a pink cultured pearl being produced in Japan that uses a coral bead as a substrate for nacre growth.

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

October 11, 2017

With fewer than four weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the sixth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Hanco Zwaan, President of the organisation’s Gemmology Commission, the report looks at a series of issues on the agenda of the gemmological community, including guidelines for colour terms like “royal blue” and “pigeon blood red,” and the way in which possible undetermined treatments can be explained on laboratory reports.

Concerns have been raised about laboratory reports that fail to include comments when gemstone treatments are “undeterminable,” which can be the case with heat treated aquamarines and irradiated tourmalines. “A person reading the report may consider that the lack of information provided implies that the stone is not treated, rather than communicating that there may have   been a treatment that is undeterminable,” Dr. Zwaan writes.

To address the issue, in the newest draft of CIBJO’s Gemstone Blue Book it is proposed that laboratories note on reports that an absence or lack of comments in the treatment section of a laboratory report does not necessarily mean that the stone has not been subject to a treatment, for there are treatments that currently cannot be definitively proven to exist. The statement could be followed by a list of undetectable treatments.

The Special Report also describes progress that was made under CIBJO’s auspices toward harmonising the standards by which laboratories will assign descriptive colour terms like “royal blue” and “pigeon blood red.” There is agreement that only very well saturated colours, within strict limits of hue and tone, are eligible to receive the specific colour terms, but disagreement still remains as to the disagree of fluorescence necessary for the terms to be awarded, and even whether or not fluorescence should be taken into account at all.

“Additional steps that need to be taken on this issue will be discussed at the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, and hopefully progress will be made,” Dr. Zwaan writes.

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

October 9, 2017

For the fourth consecutive year, CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has been certified as carbon neutral, after offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions for 2016. It did so as part of its own Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative, which it launched in 2014 to promote environmental consciousness and responsibility in the greater jewellery industry.

To become carbon neutral, CIBJO’s carbon footprint first was measured by Carbon Expert, an environmental consulting organisation that works with the jewellery confederation in the Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative. It encompassed all greenhouse gases emitted by CIBJO as a result of regular operations during the course of the year, including the annual congress in Armenia last October. This was offset through the purchase and retirement of 167 Registry Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs), which were invested in a mini-hydroelectric power plant in Karanataka, India, which is a recognised carbon offsetting project.

Greenhouse gases, which radiate and trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, are considered a primary case of climate change by the overwhelming majority of experts in the scientific community. They include carbon dioxide, whose entry into the atmosphere is accelerated through the use of  fossil fuels; methane, which is emitted during the production of coal, natural gas, and oil, as well as through emissions from livestock and other agricultural practices, and through the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills; nitrous oxide, which is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste; and fluorinated gases, which are sometimes used as substitutes for stratospheric ozone-depleting substances.

The CIBJO Greenhouse Gas Measurement Initiative was established by the jewellery confederation’s Marketing & Education Commission to help companies within the jewellery and gemstone industries understand their environmental impact, reduce it, and protect themselves and the industry as a whole. Companies that become part of the programme are invited to work with Carbon Expert, which assists them in complying with ISO Standard 14064, specifying how to quantify and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, and apply ISO Standard 20121, which offers guidance and best practice for controlling the environmental impact of events.

“We are extremely proud to have been certified as carbon neutral once again, and hope that this will serve as a model for others in the industry,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. “Global warming leading to climate change is a phenomenon that threatens every single living being, and it only can be challenged if we work both individually and in unison. Proper environmental stewardship is an integral component of corporate responsibility, and it should come to be considered a hallmark of how we go about our business in the jewellery and gemstone sector.”

October 4, 2017

With fewer than five weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the fifth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Cecilia Gardner, President of the organisation’s Ethics Commission, the report focuses on social investment in and by the jewellery industry, looking at how it is proliferating through activism at the grassroots level.

“The task of initiating proactive sustainability programmes is a complicated one for the gem and jewellery business, where the overwhelming majority of players work in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with limited resources,” Ms. Gardner writes. “The handful of major corporations involved in the business, most often mining companies, have been active in this respect, and some for many decades…. For SMEs, however, it is considerably more difficult to become involved, let alone initiate programmes that may have a lasting effect on the lives of people and communities, particularly when they are located elsewhere geographically, and at other stages along the chain of distribution.”

A feature of the past several years, Ms. Gardner notes, are voluntary and grassroots initiatives by interested individuals, companies and organisations in the jewellery sector. One of these is the Jewelry Industry Summit, where CIBJO is involved, and which is acting as an incubator for sustainability and CSR projects in a variety of industry-related fields, most related to responsible sourcing.

Among the projects associated with the Jewelry Industry Summit is a golden rutilated quartz mine in Bahia, Brazil, which is being designed to serve the long-term social and economic needs of an adjacent village with a population of about 500 people; the Jewellery Development Index (JDI), which is now being examined by a team at the U.S. State Department, and will benchmark national jewellery and gemstone industries in terms of how they help or hinder economic and social development; an initiative in India to combat the blight of silicosis; and a programme promoting mercury-free artisanal gold mining.

“There are many opportunities for you to act now to improve and sustain our supply chain and benefit those who are your business partners.  Those who work in every level of the supply chain make possible your success – without them, you cannot operate. Their health and success are essential to the health and success of the jewellery industry, and any actions taken to improve their lives will reverberate up and down our chain of supply,” Ms. Gardner writes.

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

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

The significance and potential impact on the jewellery industry of Regulation (EU) 2017/821, which will control the import into the European Union of gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten from conflict and high-risk areas, came under the spotlight at a seminar for the jewellery industry in Vicenza on September 24, organised by CIBJO and the Italian Exhibition Group.

Participants were welcomed by Gaetano Cavalieri, CIBJO’s President, and by Matteo Marzotto, IEG’s Executive Vice President.

The seminar, which was moderated by Philip Olden, a consultant to Signet Jewelers and the former managing director of the World Gold Council, brought together a panel of expert speakers, representing government, international and European organisations, business standards organisations and the jewellery, precious metals and gemstone industries.

Panel members included Marten Westrup, Coordinator of Energy and Raw Materials at the European Commission, DG Trade; Hannah Koep-Andrieu, Policy Adviser-Extractives in the Responsible Business Conduct division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD);  France Capon, Secretary General of the European Precious Metals Federation (EPMF); Andrew Bone, Executive Director of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC); Sakhila Mirza, Executive Board Director and General Counsel of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA); Stephane Fischler, Acting President of the World Diamond Council (WDC); and Francesca Angeloni, Business Development Manager Europe Jewellery and Watch Industry in the Consumer & Retail Services division of UL.

While the regulatory regime established by the new law will be fully enforced only from January 2021, providing sufficient time for businesses to adapt to its provisions, its basic framework has been outlined in the legislation that was passed by the European Parliament in May.  But there are still benchmarks, procedures and requirements that need to be formulated by the European Commission, which will be providing guidance to the business community in the months ahead. This will include a white list of approved refineries and smelters, located both inside and outside of the EU, from which purchases of gold will not trigger automatic third-party auditing requirements.

Mr. Westrup explained that the EU’s approach to conflict minerals and the recently enacted regulation has the main objective of ensuring sufficient supply chain due diligence in imports of gold and 3Ts from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. He noted that the four-year lead-in time before the requirements are to be met and the setting of thresholds below which importers are exempt from the legal requirements for due diligence are in part meant to meet the concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises. He explained that the thresholds set out in the regulation (100 kilogram per annum for gold) are intended to ensure that at least 95 percent of imports of each metal or mineral are covered, while at the same time underlining that companies without legal obligations under the EU regulation also should carry out due diligence as far as possible.

Ms. Koep-Andrieu noted that the five-step process outlined in the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas forms the basis of the new EU regulations, and that all companies could begin integrating its requirements into their systems of management, so as to become compliant with the new regime before 2021, regardless of size. She also pointed out that the guidance is applicable to all minerals, and not only gold and the 3Ts.

Ms. Capon outlined the efforts already taken by the members of the European Precious Metals Federation to ensure that the gold they are importing is subject to the type of due diligence outlined in the new EU regulations. She also was critical about the 100-kilogram threshold, saying that it undermined the efforts of other companies seeking to become compliant, while suggesting that it be reduced significantly or eliminated completely.

Noting that membership in the Responsible Jewellery Council has long passed the 1,000-company mark, Mr. Bone described the organisation as the leading responsible business standards organisation in the jewellery sector. The RJC Code of Practices, which is an international standard of responsible business practices for diamonds, gold and platinum group metals, accommodates the OECD guidelines, and, if one is RJC-certified, compliance with the new EU regulations will be easily achieved, he said.

Ensuring the integrity of the precious metals market, Ms. Mirza, said that LBMA’s Responsible Gold Guidance helps ensure the long-term integrity of the wholesale gold business. The LBMA good delivery list, which is widely recognised as the de facto standard for precious metals markets around the world as to what refiners’ gold and silver bars are acceptable, today includes 71 gold refiners from 31 countries, accounting for 85 percent to 90 percent of world production. Its due diligence standards are also compliant with the OECD guidance document, she said.

Relating the experience of the diamond industry in implementing a rigid regulatory system to stem the flow of minerals financing conflict, Mr. Fischler noted that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme differs from the EU regulations in that places a significant burden on government, while the European system focuses its attention predominantly on company self-regulation. Nonetheless, he added, while government is more directly involved in monitoring rough diamond imports and exports, diamond companies still need do due diligence, both in maintaining records of KP certificates in the rough diamond trade, and in complying with the WDC System of Warranties in the polished diamond business. While the approach of the Kimberley Process differs from that of the OECD guidance, Mr. Fischler said he is supportive of the principles expressed in the OECD document, and stressed that the industry in general needs to promote a mutual commitment to “a duty of care.”

Ms. Angeloni provided the perspective of one of the largest companies conducting third-party audits in the jewellery industry, presenting a checklist of procedures that companies will need to undergo in order to achieve compliance with the new EU regulations. She also announced that UL is developing a toolkit together with CIBJO, which will serve as a roadmap for companies in navigating the new regulatory regime.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Olden remarked that, while the introduction of the EU regulations will represent a formative moment for both the precious metals and jewellery sectors, the seminar demonstrated that systems are already in place to make compliance more achievable than some may have feared. “If you insist that your bank buy only from LBMA-approved refiners, and you are certified by a code of practices such as that of the Responsible Jewellery Council, then in all likelihood you will have in place all the various elements required to become compliant,” he said.

Mr. Olden proposed that the speakers on stage endorse the following statement: “This panel supports the principles of duty of care and supply chain due diligence. We encourage participants in the jewellery supply chain to engage with industry organisations to ensure compliance with industry guidance and standards relating to responsible sourcing.” The speakers supported the resolution.

All presentations delivered at the seminar can be downloaded from the CIBJO website. To link to the seminar report on the website, please CLICK HERE.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

With fewer than six weeks to go to the opening of the 2017 CIBJO Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 5, 2017, the fourth of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by Nilam Alawdeen, President of the organisation’s Coloured Stone Commission, the report focuses on differences in the way gemmological laboratories describe treated gemstones and the way in which a sizeable number of members of the trade prefer to describe them to customers.

“On a laboratory report, if the modifier ‘natural’ does not precede the word ‘sapphire,’ one may assume that the stone has been subjected to heating and is no longer in its original, natural state,” Mr. Alawdeen states. But, he adds, the trade’s understanding is that, “when using the term ‘sapphire’ without a modifier, one suggests that it is natural and untreated.”

“More than ever before it is our obligation to be as clear as possible when communicating with the public, about the nomenclature we use and what it signifies. It is absolutely imperative that we do not provide a mixed message,” Mr. Alawdeen continues.

The report also discusses the differences in the ways of reporting “traditional” treatments, where only general disclosure of a treatment is required, and new treatments, where more specific disclosure is necessary. From the consumer’s perspective, he writes, it is important to communicate all information that is relevant to the value of a gemstone.

The market price of a gemstone does to a degree depend on the type of treatment applied, Mr. Alawdeen notes in the report. “Part of the trade feels strongly that such factors, which differ in terms of their economic impact from treatment to treatment, should both be disclosed and explained to the consumer. Consumer confidence, they say, is enhanced by the customer understanding what elements are factored in when pricing a product,” he states.

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