In keeping with their October 13, 2020, Press Release, the Gemological Institute of America has started issuing new Lab Grown Diamond Reports (LGDR) with 4Cs color and clarity specifications instead of the descriptive terms and grade ranges, previously used for laboratory-grown diamonds. This is in keeping wiith GIA’s policy of protecting consumers as consumer interest in laboratory-grown diamonds increases rapidly.
GIA President and CEO, Susan Jacques, commenting on the issue of new Lab-Grown Diamond Reports, said, “The evolution of GIA’s reports for laboratory-grown diamonds is fully aligned with our mission to protect all consumers. Everyone who purchases gemstone jewelry – whether natural or labotatory-grown – expects and deserves the information confidence and protection that come with a GIA report.”
With effect from October 13, 2020, GIA started the issue of a family of four new diigital-only reports for lab-grown diamonds with 4Cs colour and clarity specifiications, wiith a distinct new look and updated format fully differentiated from GIA’s well-known grading reports for natural diamonds. The colour and clarity specifications for LGDs are based on the same scale as GIA grading reports of natural diamonds.
1. The GIA Laboratory-Grown Diamond Report includes 4Cs color and clarity specifications, and plotted clarity and proportions diagrams for D-to-Z laboratory-grown diamonds 0.15 cts and above.
2. The GIA Laboratory-Grown Diamond Report – Dossier includes the 4Cs color and clarity specifications and a proportions diagram for D-to-Z laboratory-grown diamonds 0.15 cts to 1.99 cts.
3. The GIA Laboratory-Grown Colored Diamond Report includes the GIA color and clarity specifications, and plotted clarity and proportions diagrams for colored laboratory-grown diamonds 0.15 cts and above.
4. The GIA Laboratory-Grown Colored Diamond Report – Color Identification includes color specifications for laboratory-grown colored diamonds.
The new Lab Grown Diamond Reports specify the method of creation of diamond, whether by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) or by High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT) Methods.
However, since early March the GIA has started providing specific information on post-growth treatments if any for lab-grown diamonds, heralding a shift in its approach to this category of diamonds.
The GIAs Lab-Grown Diamond Reports now specify if there is evidence or no evidence, of a trearment to change the colour of a stone, and in some instances where such a determination is not possible, the comment, “Whether this man-made diamond has been treated is currently undeterminable.” Previously, all LGDR reports carried a generic statement that the lab-grown diamond “may” have been treated.
Commenting on the new changes made to Lab-Grown Diamond Reports, a GIA spokesperson said, “We made this change in response to feedback from out clients – manufacturers, retailers and brands – that there is interest in knowing about post-growth color treatments for laboratory-grown diamonds.”
Susan Jacques, GIA CEO said, “the organization didn’t feel that it was essential for consumers to know, if a lab-grown diamond has or has not been treated.” However, she added that the GIA would provide a letter stating whether it had detected a treatment, where necessary.
Leon Peres, CEO of Green Rocks, a producer and supplier of untreated synthetic diamonds and part of Ofer Mizrahi Diamonds, said, “If you look through that whole journey until the GIA launched the LGDR, you clearly see a pattern of…evolving transparency regarding the grading of lab-grown diamonds,”
Following the GIA’s decision to issue new LGDRs also including specific information on post-growth treatments if any, the International Gemological Institute (IGI), one of the major players in the lab-grown area, has also followed suit and added specific treatment details if any to its lab-grown reports.
