2004

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.