Part of the revised Jewelry Guides launched in 2018, the FTC’s ideas dictate that when selling lab-grown diamonds, firms ought to disclose what they’re in a “clear and conspicuous” technique; in several phrases, the disclosure have to be someplace prospects are going to see it.
The three phrases the FTC recommends using for lab-grown diamonds are: laboratory-grown, laboratory-created, or [manufacturer name]-created.
Cultured will be utilized too, the FTC said, nonetheless it have to be “immediately accompanied, with equal conspicuousness” by considered one of many three aforementioned phrases.
Phrases akin to “precise,” “actual,” “pure,” and “beneficial” cannot be utilized in selling a lab-grown diamond, in step with the Jewelry Guides, and when the phrase “diamond” appears by itself, it is taken to indicate the product being marketed is a pure diamond.
GJEPC said the FTC’s updated ideas, “current a clear, standardized definition of ‘diamond’ and distinct terminology for laboratory-grown diamonds, ensuring readability and transparency for every commerce stakeholders and prospects.”
The group said it may possibly begin educating the Indian commerce on the right phrases and their utilization, and it will encourage totally different jewelry commerce organizations and Indian retailers to undertake the FTC-approved terminology as properly.
On the patron facet, GJEPC said it has been working with the Indian authorities and the Ministry of Shopper Affairs, Meals, and Public Distribution to get the principles for selling diamonds established by the FTC written into the nation’s shopper authorized tips.
In the mean time, shopper understanding in India is that when the phrase “diamond” appears alone, it implies that the product the patron is looking for is a pure diamond, nonetheless India’s present Shopper Security Act does not notably state this.
The GJEPC believes it must.
“Since India’s gem and jewelry commerce has unanimously accepted the FTC’s new definition with respect to diamonds, we urge the Indian authorities and ministries to easily settle for, undertake, and adapt the similar to present shopper authorized tips of our nation,” GJEPC Chairman Vipul Shah said.
“This initiative is in prospects’ curiosity and protects their rights whereas shielding them from misinformation. The FTC’s new definition shows technological developments and ensures readability in diamond promoting and advertising and marketing, making use of the similar necessities to every mined and lab-grown diamonds.”
Smit Patel, who heads the GJEPC’s Lab-Grown Diamond Panel, added that since is India is a frontrunner throughout the lab-grown diamond sector, it must be using the similar terminology for lab-grown diamonds that is being utilized everywhere else.
“Globally, these diamonds are acknowledged as ‘laboratory-created’ or ‘laboratory-grown,’ not ‘synthetic diamonds,’ and India must embrace this terminology,” Patel said.
“The lab-grown diamond commerce has moreover contributed to the creation of a whole bunch of hundreds of jobs domestically and is driving substantial exports, reinforcing India’s place as a worldwide chief on this shortly rising sector.”
Following its conferences with the federal authorities, GJEPC said the nation’s Central Shopper Security Authority (CCPA), which works to protect prospects from unfair practices, similar to the FTC within the US, organized a stakeholder session on shopper security for the diamond sector.
The CCPA moreover has created a working group to evaluation diamond terminology.