CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has released its Laboratory-Grown Diamond (LGD) Guidance, which includes a set of operating standards and principles for the LGD sector that are designed to enhance consumer confidence both in the product and the jewellery industry.

A key principle of the LGD Guidance is to ensure confidence, consumers must receive complete and unambiguous information about what they are buying, so that they can make consciously informed purchasing decisions.

Divided into various sections, the guidance document outlines clear principles for describing LGD, as well as due diligence measures that should be followed by companies handling LGD merchandise and attending events at which they are displayed, like trade shows. It furthermore recommends the manner in which loose LGDs or jewellery set with LGDs should be disclosed on sales invoices and consignment documents. The document also addresses the subject of LGD detection technology.

A key section of the document relates to the services provided by gem labs to the LGD sector. It holds to the principle that the confidence of consumers will be served by their receiving an accurate and objective report of the characteristics of the laboratory-grown stone that they are buying, but, since such reports are unrelated to a LGD’s rarity, care should be taken that the report itself does not infer a similarity between a LGD and a natural diamond. The guidance recommends, therefore, that the report is referred to as a “Laboratory-Grown Diamond Product Specification,” and not a grading report.

“The public release of the Laboratory-Grown Diamond Guidance represents the culmination of three years of very delicate and complicated discussions, involving a great many experts from across the industry,” said CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri.