BJA and NAG call for greater honesty in diamond trading

The British Jewellers Association (BJA) and the National Association of Goldsmiths (NAG) have today made a call for greater honesty and transparency in diamond trading, following the release of Martin Rapaport’s ‘Honest Grading’ report.

The BJA and NAG have released a statement in which they said the issue of diamond over-grading has once again come to the fore with the release of Rapaport’s report which was distributed to 77,000 jewellery trade members worldwide.

Rapaport has called the over grading of diamonds by certain laboratories a “significant threat” to the industry that could lead disgruntled customers demanding refunds from jewellers. This follows on from Rapaport’s recent decision to ban all EGL grading reports from his online trading platform.

The BJA and NAG have said that they are “fully supportive of the timely release” of the report and are calling for the UK jewellery industry to define an agreed and common policy for all to abide by in order to provide consumers with greater confidence in the purchase of diamonds.

Simon Rainer, BJA CEO, said: “Without question, the issue of miss-sold diamonds forms the highest percentage of consumer complaints we receive. The trade has to find a way of creating greater consistency in the sale of diamonds and diamond grading supported by accepted independent accreditation and monitoring.”

Both associations have said that they recognise the need for increased transparency and honesty in the manner in which diamonds are traded and sold to consumers.

Michael Rawlinson, NAG CEO, said: “What we are looking for is a code of practice agreed by key industry stakeholders which can easily be adopted by the trade and most importantly, understood by the consumer.”

Image courtesy of Petra Diamonds