The Gemological Institute of America’s famed grading lab will soon issue grading reports for synthetic stones, GIA chairman Ralph Destino said at the World Diamond Congress today.

The reports will be a different color (yellow) than the GIA’s reports for natural diamonds. In addition, all the synthetic stones will have the word “synthetic” inscribed on their girdles.

“GIA is a public benefit not-for-profit organization, and we take that obligation seriously,” Destino said. “The greater the disclosure, the greater the consumer confidence.”

He said that by grading the stones, GIA will see more of them than it would if it only issued identification reports, as it currently does.

Destino noted that by issuing reports, GIA can “control the nomenclature. Some of the chaps producing these stomes would like to call them cultured or man-made. Here we can call them pure and simple ‘synthetic.’ “

The word “synthetic” appears nine times on the report, Destino added.

He also noted that “our lawyers tell us as a public-benefit corporation, we could be acting in restraint of trade by failing to grade these stones and legally vulnerable.”

Destino’s announcement caused the World Federation of Diamond Bourses to reverse the decision it made two years ago opposing reports for synthetic diamonds.

JCK