Under the Loupe

The IDC was established in 1975 to provide its founders – the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) – with a set of universally accepted standards of nomenclature for polished diamonds within the international diamond trade. The challenge for a clear and unambiguous description of a polished diamond characteristics and quality was taken up by the IDC. At that time, it was mostly a  'horizontal' interest, meaning that is was of interest predominantly to the diamond and diamond jewellery trade.  

In mid-November, the CIBJO Europe Working Group convened a meeting in Antwerp, with its objective being to come to an agreement on nomenclature for synthetic diamonds. CIBJO Europe is a body that was created by the World Jewellery Confederation in 2007 to promote standard diamond terminology in the European Community. It is strongly supported by a consortium of the major diamond producers, including De Beers, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.