International Diamond Council (IDC) has reworked its "IDC Rules for Grading Diamonds", and will announce the new version in two weeks. The new rules centre around the intent to provide relevant and updated nomenclature for polished diamonds. A collective decision was taken at the IDC meeting held on July 2nd in Antwerp to implement the new rules, which will be made available as a downloadable Adobe PDF document on the IDC website, through a separate online path.

IDC Chairman Stephane Fischler stated that the IDC rules ''are a 'work in progress' and will no doubt evolve further to reflect, in an appropriate fashion, technological and other advances in the diamond industry, as well as to consolidate the trust of the consuming public in diamonds.

" The IDC is a joint committee established in 1975 by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) to create an international standard for rules, working methods and nomenclature. Fischler added, "I believe IDC's role, as a vehicle of WFDB and IDMA, will only grow as the industry needs to offer consumers the best and widest possible range of quality assurances of the diamonds it sells to the public".

Recently, IDC included CIBJO representatives in the IDC, after an agreement between IDC and CIBJO in Shanghai in May 2008. This outlines CIBJO’s acceptance to IDC rules as a joint platform for diamond grading standards and nomenclature.