Emmanuel Piat, CEO of Paris-based gemstone supplier Piat and a Vice President of the CIBJO Coloured gemstones committee, appeals to the international gems trade, including sales staff, to adhere to CIBJO’s new guide to responsible practices, which is CIBJO’s most read document on social media.
He also urged sales staff to download and read the new guide from CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, The Do’s & Don’ts Guide in the handling and trading of diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls and coral.
CIBJO released the guide in March and has made it available for downloading in PDF format from the CIBJO website, in multiple languages, free of charge.
The document provides easy-to-understand guidelines for industry professionals concerning the disclosure and description of natural and treated gem materials, synthetics and other artificial products, as well as recommendations about information that should be requested from suppliers.
It is intended to support jewellery business owners and professional staff, but it is not meant to replace CIBJO’s Blue Books, which are comprehensive guides of standards, practices and nomenclature for diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, coral, precious metals, gemmological laboratories and responsible sourcing, nor in any way supersede national legislation or regulations, or internationally approved protocols.
“The Do’s & Don’ts Guide is a welcome reference for sales staff to ensure that responsible practices are being applied,” Emmanuel Piat said in an interview at Baselworld.
“I am also appealing to lab groups to work together towards creating common standards in testing gemstones in order to boost consumer confidence through ethical trade. CIBJO could be the right platform for such collaboration.”
Piat supports CIBJO in encouraging members of the industry to become familiar with the various Blue Books, while appreciating that on the spur of the moment they can be overwhelming in terms of size and complexity.
For that reason, the organisation produced the more concise and easy-to-read guide.
“Consumer confidence is the bedrock of the jewellery business, and to maintain and enhance this it is critical that responsible practices be applied, by all participants at every stage of the chain of distribution,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri.
“Our new Do’s & Don’ts Guide is designed to support this objective.”
