Summary:
This will eat into the natural diamond jewellery business of the industry. The US is the largest diamond jewellery consumer market and we cannot afford to lose our business to laboratory-grown diamonds.”Navadiya said the FTC advisory will allow the laboratory-grown diamond jewellery manufacturers to enter the US market. The industry has supported the decision taken by CIBJO for keeping the word ‘natural’ in the definition of diamonds.Soon after the FTC changes, CIBJO may need to amend the Blue Book and that its diamond commission would discuss the matter at Bogotá conference, which begins Monday. Surat: Diamantaires in the world’s largest diamond cutting and polishing centre in the city heaved a sigh of relief after World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) decided to keep the word ‘natural’ in its definition of diamonds.The Switzerland-based group will probably not amend the entry in its Blue Book before the next scheduled review in two years. That’s despite a decision by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July to remove ‘natural’ from its own definition of the mineral, putting it at odds with CIBJO’s policy.Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) regional chairman Dinesh Navadiya said, “The biggest loss of removing word ‘natural’ from the definition of diamonds by FTC will be for Indian Diamantaires..