(PRESS RELEASE) ANTWERP, BELGIUM – The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has welcomed overall the changes by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) to its reports for lab-grown diamonds. The GIA said its reports will be changed to come into line with revisions to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Jewelry Guides announced last year.
As of July 1, the GIA will discontinue the GIA Synthetic Diamond Grading Report and introduce, instead, the GIA Laboratory-Grown Diamond Report. WFDB President Ernie Blom said he was pleased that although the reports will include the standard GIA color, clarity and cut grading scales for reference purposes, they will continue to use Colorless, Near Colorless, Faint, Very Faint and Faint to report the color grades for laboratory-grown diamonds, rather than the letters used to report the color grades used for diamonds.
“In addition, we are happy to see that the reports will continue to use Flawless, Internally Flawless, Very Very Slightly Included, Very Slightly Included, Slightly Included and Included to report clarity grades, rather than VVS1 and VVS2; VS1 and VS2; SI1 and SI2; and I1, I2 and I3 used to report the clarity grades for diamonds.
“Although ‘synthetic’ will not be used in the reports and will be replaced by ‘laboratory grown’ in the identification line, we welcome the fact that the reports will also include the statement: ‘This is a man-made diamond produced by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) or HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) growth processes and may include post-growth treatments to change the color. In addition, all detected clarity treatments will be disclosed.’
“As I have often said in the past, we have nothing against the lab-grown diamond sector. We only ask that such stones be fully disclosed so that consumers are aware of what they are being offered. These are different products with their own niche market and there is no need for ill-feeling or for dubious claims and advertising to be used against diamonds, such as the claims that lab-growns are eco-friendly and that diamonds are not. We must have fair marketing that does not denigrate other products.
“The global diamond industry made its views known to the GIA during its decision making process, and I am pleased that this very important global institution gave weight to the industry’s concerns. I call on the other labs to follow suit to ensure that their reports are clearly differentiated for lab-grown stones because this is a vital issue for the diamond trade,” Blom added.