'Certification needed for synthetic diamonds'.

SURAT: The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has recommended that the Central Government and the international bodies, including the Kimberley Process (KP), separate ITC HS code for synthetic polished and rough diamonds and start certification on the line of natural diamonds. The recommendation has been made in the wake of controversy with regard to large-scale mixing of undisclosed synthetic diamonds with natural diamond parcels that has sullied the reputation of Indian diamond industry.

ITC (HS) codes are better known as Indian Trade Clarification (ITC) and are based on Harmonized System (HS) of coding for import-export operations.

Sanjay Kothari, spokesperson, GJEPC's Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee (NDMC), who was in the city at the inauguration of India's first Gems and Jewellery Machinery Expo (IGJME) on Friday told TOI, "We are expecting a detailed study report on synthetic diamond by February. Until then we are making efforts to get synthetic polished and rough separated from ITC HS code and certification for synthetic rough like natural dimaonds. This will help us to monitor the synthetic diamond market."

According to Kothari, the rough diamond imports into the country do no attract any import duty under the ITC HS code issued by Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). While the natural rough diamonds come with KP certification, which includes the country of origin, the synthetic diamonds do not carry any certification.

Kothari informed that the GJEPC and Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) have formed NDMC to take steps to fight infiltration of undisclosed lab-made diamonds into parcels of natural diamonds.

The NDMC has commissioned diamond broker Bonas to present them with a study about who manufactures lab-made diamonds, where, the costs, and so on and the second stage of the project will see consultancy firm A T Kearny further analyze the lab-made sector.

The goal is to understand the scope and economics of the clandestine lab-made manufacturing and form policies to prevent them from permeating into natural diamond parcels undisclosed.

Meanwhile, the GJEPC has no other way to check infiltration of synthetic diamonds in small sizes known as 'Stars' and 'Melee'. Even the diamond detection centre opened up in Mumbai does not have the facility for bulk detection of synthetic diamonds.

"There is no equipment in the world that can bulk detect synthetic diamonds. We are eagerly awaiting the bulk detector device of De Beers, which is expected to arrive after March 2013. But, through the diamond detection centre, we could at least flash a message to the wrongdoers in trade that they are always under scrutiny," said Vipul Shah, chairman, GJEPC.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com