There's a new movement to create a mechanism to certify and track coloured gemstones from their countries of origin. It began with a meeting a couple weeks ago in Hong Kong led by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the Vienna International Justice Institute and the International Colored Gemstone Association. The participants included representatives of governments of Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Tanzania as well as from luxury jewellery brands and gemmological laboratory sector. Other than being in the same room and voicing their intentions to create a certification system not much apparently happened at meeting. But it is a start. The question is how far could such a program go? And what are the obstacles?
The inaugural meeting of experts to create a certification and tracking system for coloured gemstones I think it's going to be a daunting task. As the UNICRI points out, 80 percent of coloured gemstone production comes from small scale informal mining. "The supply chain from mine to market is extremely fragmented with a high degree of opacity. The high value and easy portability of the gemstones provide lucrative opportunities for illegal activities, often characterized by the involvement of organized criminal groups managing fraudulent practices."
The project aims at establishing a certificate of origin and a corresponding tracking system for colored gemstones based on the improvement of environmental, social and governance performance along the supply and value chains, through a pragmatic approach. The most difficult part of the project is creating a single solution for all coloured gemstones. Somehow, for any chance of this succeeding, the organizations are going to have to limit its focus. Or it has to be so attractive for miners and distributors of coloured gemstones to participate, that they would happily conform to the regulations for the added business.
The UNICRI said a basic premise of this endeavour is that a certification and tracking system will spur growth in demand for coloured gemstones and create a more efficient system by eliminating things like illicit trafficking, fraud, theft, money laundering, and unsafe working conditions.
ICA involvement is vital for such a program to succeed. It is the largest representative of the coloured gemstone industry. At the meeting ICA President Wilson Yuen voiced the organization's backing of the program. "In the present context, tracking gemstones from their geographical origin with a realistic approach is an opportunity for the public sector, the gems and jewellery industry and the civil society to address together social, technical and environmental issues as well as illicit and criminal practices threatening our sector," Yuen said. "This will undoubtedly enhance the transparency of the distribution chain and benefit all the stakeholders from mine to market and build up consumer confidence." The task is extremely difficult but it's worth the effort.
