In August, GIA announced that it would change its LGDRs, which it has issued since 2006, to include the same colour and clarity grading system as it uses for mined diamonds. Previously, LGDRs used general descriptive terms.
CEO Susan Jacques comments as follow:
“Our intention is to be able to provide consumers with what consumers request and desire. It is fully aligned with our mission to protect all consumers and not just consumers of natural diamonds and colored stones. And so there will always be a market for the amazing treasures of Mother Nature. But there is a new generation of customers who do view laboratory-grown diamonds as an option. And we at GIA truly believe that they also deserve GIA’s protection”.
“And so as more retailers begin to pick up and carry laboratory-grown diamonds in their stores, and as more new consumers around the world are interested in buying this product, we also strongly believe that the overall market will continue to grow and bring new consumers into the marketplace, many with an aspiration to possibly own a natural diamond at another stage of their life. That’s what we’ve learned through focus groups and through consumer interaction”.
“”But there was confusion, and our desire is to educate the consumer and make sure that…they…100% understand…the product that they are buying and that this is a man-made product produced in a couple of weeks versus a natural product, possibly more than a billion years old, that came to the surface of the earth through a volcano. So they’re distinctly different products, but both are diamonds. And we feel that this is the right step to ensuring consumer protection”.