CIBJO Wants to Define What “Ethical” Means in Jewelry

By Rob Bates | May 16, 2025

It sometimes seems like the only consensus on how to define sustainability in the jewelry industry is that there’s no consensus on how to do it.

CIBJO (World Jewellery Confederation) wants to change that. The organization recently released the first draft of “The Blue List: The Responsible Jewellery Supply Chain Lexicon,” which consists of 20 pages of sustainability-related terms and their definitions. The document, which is open for public comment through September, can be downloaded here.

“I have always thought that we in the industry often speak different languages,” CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri (pictured) tells JCK. “People use terminology to define certain things, which is sometimes understandable from one side but not from the other. I say it’s best to unify and harmonize so maybe we can have a common language.”

The Blue List includes definitions of terms that industry people commonly use, even if no one had ever bothered to spell out precisely what they mean. For instance, it defines vintage jewelry as pieces created between 30 and 100 years ago, while antique jewelry is more than a century old. A company can call itself responsible if it “demonstrably meets international baseline standards and current best practices.” And so on.

World Diamond Council president Feriel Zerouki, who worked on the Blue List, says it took years of research to put together.

“We looked at the dictionary, we looked at industry standards,” she says, adding the publication specifically excludes terms that have already been defined by the Federal Trade Commission.

While Cavalieri acknowledges that CIBJO doesn’t have the resources to police its new definitions, he notes that the group’s Blue Books form the basis for jewelry laws in many countries. For now, he just wants the industry to provide feedback on the Blue List first draft.

“This isn’t final,” he says. “We consider this a living document.”

After the CIBJO board reviews comments, the revised Blue List will be formally launched at CIBJO’s 2025 conference, Oct. 25-27 in Paris.

The Blue List will be the subject of an educational session at the JCK show in Las Vegas: “What Does It Mean to Be Ethical? Have Your Say,” taking place on Saturday, June 7, at 1 p.m. Panelists will include Cavalieri; Zerouki; Ronnie VanderLinden, president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association; Sara Yood, president and CEO of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee; and Purvi Shah, De Beers’ head of ethical and sustainable value chain. It will be moderated by the author of this article.

(Photo courtesy of CIBJO)