IDMA: Grade Labs Should Help Treatment Disclosure - Dec.2004
The International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), is calling on gem
lab to implement its recommendations aimed at facilitating treatment disclosure.
Those recommendations are:
* Grading reports for all HPHT treated diamonds should be issued in a
jacket-cover that’s a distinctly different color than that used for untreated,
natural diamonds. In this way, consumers will be able at first glance to
recognize that the diamond has been treated.
* When grading reports are issued for HPHT-treated diamonds, the“color”
or “color grade” of the diamond should contain the wording “HPHT-TREATED*”—in
capital letters, followed by an asterisk. (Alternative and unambiguous words
that can be used to describe HPHT treatments are the more neutral words “HPHT-altered”
or “HPHT-changed.”) Furthermore, IDMA urges that the color descriptions be
moved to the comments section, and that they be placed adjacent to the
explanation that the color of the diamond has been altered by “HIGH PRESSURE,
HIGH TEMPERATURE TREATMENT.”
* IDMA recommends that all diamond laboratories formulate and implement a
basic accreditation process for grading labs.
This minimal standard should include a condition that an accredited grading
laboratory possess and maintain the appropriate equipment for detecting all
diamond treatments, including distinguishing natural diamonds from synthetic
diamonds, and that its staff is fully competent and properly trained to operate
such equipment effectively.
“We cannot begin to stress the depth of our concerns about the potential
threat to consumer confidence from the sale of undisclosed and undetected
treated and/or synthetic diamonds,” says IDMA president Jeffrey Fischer, who
urged the lab to give the proposal “careful consideration” with a view
toward implementing them in the future. v |