CIBJO to Drop ‘Lab-Grown,’ ‘Lab-Created’ From Terminology Standards

CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, will eliminate the terms “laboratory grown” and “laboratory created” from its Gemstone Blue Book, mandating “synthetic” as the sole approved term for describing man-made gemstones beginning in September 2026.

The decision, outlined in a special report.

by Charles Abouchar, president of CIBJO’s Coloured Stone Commission, followed a year of deliberation by commission members. The group concluded that “laboratory grown” and “laboratory created” — terms that originated in the synthetic diamond industry and were adopted in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission — did not accurately describe the products, while “synthetic” was “unambiguously clear.”

From September 2026, the Blue Book will define “synthetic” as “artificial products having essentially the same chemical composition, physical properties and structure as that of their naturally occurring counterparts.” The updated standards will be presented at CIBJO’s Congress in Vicenza, Italy, which begins Sept. 4.

The move follows similar terminology changes this year by the Russian government, the African Diamond Producers Association, the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Gemological Institute of America, Rapaport reported.