Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be with you all here in Idar-Oberstein, a beautiful town that I have visited often and to which I am always pleased to return – not least of which its being a place where I find myself among friends, many of whom I have known for decades.

Idar-Oberstein is one of those rare locations in the world that, as soon as its name is mentioned, one knows that jewellery and gemstones will be part of the discussion. It’s a very exclusive club, which includes Pforzheim, Vicenza, Arezzo, Jaipur, Surat, Antwerp and Chanthaburi, and each in its own way is different from the other. But in our industry every single one of these places is special.

It is also unique in that this relatively small town serves as one of the most important educational hubs in our industry, being home to the Full Time Training Centre of the German Gemmological Association – or DGemG  – whose 50th anniversary we are celebrating today.

Fifty years is a long time, especially in a scientific discipline that itself is relatively young. But I would be remiss if I did not point out that in 2026 CIBJO will mark its century of existence, having been founded in its original form in Paris in1926. Indeed, we will begin our 100th year of celebration this coming October at the 2025 CIBJO Congress, which fittingly will also take place in Paris.

To be fair though, while the Full Time Training Centre may be 50 years old, its parent body, the German Gemmological Association is much closer in age to CIBJO, having been founded six years after it in 1932.

The work we all do is closely related.

Allow me to provide a bit of background about CIBJO.

As I mentioned, our organization was established in Paris in 1926 as BIBOA, whose mission at the time was to represent and advance the interests of the jewellery trade in Europe. We were restructured in 1961 as CIBJO (from the French name Confédération International de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie, Orfèvrerie des Diamants, Perles et Pierres), with a global rather than a continental focus. Today our official designation is the World Jewellery Confederation, but in the industry it is the name CIBJO that is best known.

CIBJO does not have individual members. Our members are national associations active in the jewellery and gemstone industries, and they always hold the balance of power in our decision-making structure. But we also have commercial members, among which are some of the most prominent companies, corporations and service providers in jewellery, gemstones and precious metals, as well as other international industry associations.

CIBJO has members and affiliates from some 47 countries, including all the major production centres and markets, and is active in all product categories and along the full chain of distribution, from mines to jewellery retail. We effectively are the United Nations of the jewellery industry, and indeed since 2006 have held Special Consultative Status in the UN’s Economic and Social Council, being our industry the one and only delegate to that body.

CIBJO’s role is to encourage harmonisation, promote international cooperation within the jewellery industry, to consider issues which are of concern to the trade worldwide, and to communicate with and between members.

To provide our industry with the tools it requires, we have produced our Blue Books, which are today the most universally recognized and accepted sets of jewellery and gemstone standards. Essentially, it is they that serve as our industry’s common language.

Each Blue Book standard – of which there are currently eight – coloured stones, diamonds, pearls, precious metals, coral, gemmological laboratories and responsible sourcing  –  represents a consensus derived from the broad expertise on the subject within our various commissions.

There are also several initiatives underway that in time may achieve Blue Book status – including those related to opal and members of the jade and jadeite family. We are also currently conducting a public consultation for what is called The Blue List, which is lexicon of accepted descriptive terms and words related to sustainability and responsible sourcing in the jewellery supply chain. There also are authoritative guidance documents, one of which is meant to differentiate between natural and laboratory-grown diamonds, and another which relates to the adoption of ESG  –  or environmental, social and governance principles  –  in accordance with national laws.

The process of developing the Blue Books is remarkable, and is a testament to the dedication, professionalism, expertise and voluntary spirit of members of our worldwide community.

And when I say “voluntary,” it is exactly what I mean. Nothing would be achievable were it not for the hard work of our members, and prominent among them is the German Gemmological Association. Dr. Thomas Lind, President of DGemG, is also Vice President of CIBJO’s Sector A, which oversees all activities, commissions and committees related to gem materials and gem laboratories.  Dr. Claudio Milisenda, Head of the laboratory and CEO of the DSEF German Gem Lab, is also Vice President of the CIBJO Gemmological Commission.

The application of the Blue Books is voluntary, but increasingly they are becoming recognised as common standards. The German contribution to this process has been substantial.

In October 2004, Rudi Biehler, a long-time CIBJO officer and a countryman of yours, appealed to a district court in Munich to issue a restraining order against the German distributor of the Gemesis Corporation, a synthetics diamond producer, from using the term “cultured diamonds” when marketing its products to the public. The court granted the injunction, agreeing that the word “cultured” was misleading. In reaching its decision, the judges relied on the terminology and definitions contained in CIBJO’s Diamond Blue Book. In so doing, the court set precedent in the European Union.

In July 2015, the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO published International Standard 18323, entitled “Jewellery — Consumer confidence in the diamond industry.” It specified a set of permitted descriptors for the diamond industry that are meant to be unequivocally understood by consumers. It mirrored the definitions outlined in CIBJO’s Diamond Blue Book, and cited as its primary sources the Blue Book; the IDC Rules, which are aligned with CIBJO’s; and  PAS 1048, which is based on the CIBJO Diamond Blue Book and relates to terminology and classification of grading polished diamonds that were developed by CIBJO with the support of the German Standards Institute.

Then, in September 2020, ISO published International Standard 24016, specifying the terminology, classification and the methods to be used for the grading and description of single unmounted polished diamonds over 0.25 carats in weight. Here, too, CIBJO had granted ISO permission to use PAS 1048.

In 2024 ISO published a standard for the quality control of diamonds of 0.25 carats and less. Called International Standard 24016, it completed the set of ISO standards for the diamond industry.

Today is not only a celebration of gemmology, but even more so of gemmological education. As I alluded to earlier, gemmology as a scientific discipline is relatively young. Making the training and imparting of knowledge is absolutely critical to its future, and of course as it also is to the future of our undustry.

It's a critical element of what we do in CIBJO.

In this respect I would like to mention two milestones:

In December 2008, we established the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), whose goal is to establish a programme that will educate members of the diamond, gemstone and jewellery industries about the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility, and how they may implement these principles in their businesses. The programme was designed together with the United Nations, which assigned a team of CSR experts to work on the project.

In November 2023, the CIBJO Board of Directors approved a proposal to establish the CIBJO Academy. Its objective would be to prepare and deliver educational programmes and materials, suitable for jewellery professionals and the consuming public, about standards, operating principles and terminology developed within CIBJO’s various commissions and expert committees. The essential course materials would be the various CIBJO Blue Books and guides, relating to the entire spectrum of the gemstone and jewellery industries, covering natural diamonds, laboratory-grown diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, coral, precious metals, principles of responsible sourcing, the operation of gem laboratories, marketing, ethics and legal issues, and more.

The role of the CIBJO Academy is certainly not to provide competition to the DGemG training centre in Idar-Oberstein, but rather to complement the work it does, by educating about the Blue Book standards, which DGemG officers themselves itself have participated in developing. Indeed, already last year, a first set of CIBJO Academy courses was announced in conjunction with Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand – or GIT –  and courses were also being prepared with the Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones – or DANAT. Our goal is to develop similar programmes with DGemG.

I will not delve deeper in the syllabus and future collaboration with the CIBJO Academy, because we are most fortunate that in the next session today you will be addressed by the Dean of CIBJO Academy himself, Kenneth Scarratt. He is a CIBJO Vice President, President of CIBJO’s Sector A and President of the CIBJO Pearl Commission. He also is one of the world’s most respected gemmologists, having headed labs and research institutes in the United Kingdom, United States, Thailand and Bahrain.

Gemmologists face a series of challenges, each one of which would be formidable by itself. The industry they work in, incredibly complex, where supply chains often cross multiple borders and information about product and the people handling is not always complete.

Then, as many of you are aware, there is no real legal consensus as to who can refer to themselves as a gemmologist, or even what constitutes a gem grading and identification laboratory. A side-effect of this has been the appearance over the decades of a great many people offering gemmological services without any verifiable basis for doing so, presenting themselves as gemmologists, and issuing grading or identification reports, which they often misleadingly refer to as certificates.

How do we operate in such an environment, and eliminate such negative elements? By ensuring that the buying public understands that being a gemmologist requires professional training and intense learning. In the same way that members of the public  seek out a qualified doctor, dentist of lawyer, rather than taking advice from them simply because they claim to be doctors, dentists or lawyers. An individual evaluating or identifying a valuable component of jewellery should seek out a properly educated and trained gemmologist.

How is done?

• First by supporting laboratories and research institutes with impeccable standards, operating principles and academic criteria. The German Gemmological Association, its Full Time Training Centre here in Idar-Oberstein, and the DSEF German Gem Lab are perfect role models.
• Second, by the development of harmonized standards, operating principles and nomenclature. That is where CIBJO has played so important a role, through its Blue Books, though its helping elevate them to becoming ISO standards, and now though the educational initiative of the CIBJO Academy.

And, as I have already said today, the work we all do is closely related.

The strict research and educational discipline applied at leading gemmological institutes, like this one in Idar-Oberstein relies on the peer-reviewed research carried out at other gemmological institutes around the world, and a ready pool of well-trained researchers and educators that are being graduated here and at similar bodies. It also relies on the partnerships it has with other institutes of higher learning.

To achieve critical mass, though, it is imperative that we operate on the same playing field, where standards and benchmarks match one another, and language and terminology are universally understood to mean the same things. Here, the World Jewellery Confederation, its Blue Books and now its CIBJO Academy play a central role, as do complementary bodies, like the Laboratory Harmonization Committee and the Federation for European Education in Gemmology, not to mention the International Organization for Standardization. And the work we all do of course depends on inputs from local gemmological institutes, with DGemG being a leading example.

I think we can all be proud of what was achieved over the past half century and century, but we cannot rest. The march of technology is relentless, as the consumer base widens, not only in terms of raw numbers, but also in the volume information it has access to – not all of which is accurate.

To look forward to continuing success, it’s imperative that we work together. Today, however, we’ll take some time out to celebrate the jubilee year of the Full Time Training Centre of the German Gemmological Association.

Thank you and congratulations.

Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, 24.05.2025