With four weeks to go to the opening of the 2013 CIBJO Congress in Tel Aviv on May 7, 2013, the third of the CIBJO commissions’ Special Reports has been released. Prepared by the CIBJO Coloured Stone Commission, headed by Nilam Alawdeen,\u00a0 the report\u00a0 reviews updates already made to the Coloured Gemstone Blue Book and also those that are being considered. In particular it looks at the nomenclature used to describe gemstone treatments.<\/p>\n
The Special Report notes the addition of the qualifying terms \u201claboratory-grown\u201d and \u201claboratory-created\u201d as alternatives to the term \u201csynthetic,\u201d but points out that in the event that a national jewellery association in a non-English speaking country, which is a member of CIBJO, deems that there is no acceptable local direct translation of the terms “laboratory-grown” or “laboratory-created,” then only the translation of the term “synthetic” should be used.<\/p>\n
The Special Report states the intention of the Coloured Stone Commission to tackle the inadequacy of current nomenclature in describing lead-glass filled rubies. “If ‘composite’ is not the right term,” it says, “CIBJO should work in haste to adopt the proper nomenclature, to better protect consumers\u2019 interests and, thereby, the integrity of the industry.<\/p>\n