Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published revised Jewelry Guides which, according to IDEX Online, “widen the definition of what can be called a diamond”. According to the FTC, non-mined diamonds need not be called “synthetic” any more. Now, manufacturers of such stones can use other terms so long as they “clearly and conspicuously convey that the product is not a mined stone”.
In response, President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) Ernie Blom has issued a statement where he denounces the new FTC jewelry guidelines, saying: “The new guidelines are not in line with the Diamond Terminology Guidelines as agreed last year and implemented by the WFDB, the International Diamond Council, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association and CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation”.
Blom added: “We feel that these changes provide too much of a bias towards the lab-grown diamond sector […] we do not feel that the views of the diamond sector were taken sufficiently into account, though we acknowledge there was consultation with American industry bodies. The guidelines do not include the views of the global diamond trade which the WFDB represents, although we are pleased that lab-grown stones have to be clearly marked as such”.
