India's gem and jewelry sector set up a wide-based committee tasked to stem the flow of undisclosed synthetic diamonds. The committee is empowered to act as a watchdog and take appropriate action against those knowingly passing undisclosed lab-made diamonds.



The move follows an incident where all 600 diamonds of a parcel sold in New York were found to be undisclosed synthetics.



The committee is a task force of four organizations – the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), the Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association (MDMA) and the All India Gem & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF), which represents retailers.



“It is important to protect the integrity of the trade and the confidence that consumers have in it. It is clear that as far as the industry is concerned, there should be zero tolerance on anyone trying to pass off synthetic diamonds as natural," GJEPC Vice Chairman Sanjay Kothari explained after the committee's first meeting, held July 11.



"Thus the committee was formed to develop a common strategy among all stakeholders in the gem and jewelry industry including the trade, retailers and the laboratories.”



Kothari explained that the actual reporting of any violations would be at the member association level. These associations would now encourage members to report any violations and they would bring the violation to the committee's attention. The committee would then initiate the necessary action through the association.



As the first order of business, the committee elected Ashish Mehta as its Convener.



Kothari noted, “The committee will send letters through its constituent associations urging all members to bring any violations to light. This way,” he explained, “we can ensure that there is a clear-cut system to ensure that any violations would be reported and dealt with appropriately.”



The committee is also ensuring that the necessary technical expertise is on hand. “That’s why we got the leading laboratories on board with this,” Kothari said. “We want to strengthen our technical response and ensure that we have good scientific resources being deployed in support of the initiative.”



Inputs from the laboratories will go into ensuring that the gem and diamond industry countrywide is aware of what is necessary and thus ensure that they are absolute certain that the laboratory they might entrust any testing to is fully equipped to deal with the problem.



A group of industry members was invited for their experience and expertise to help the committee achieve its goals.