CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has recently released an updated version of another of its Blue Books, the Gemstone Book. It had first released the updated Pearl Book after the Congress meeting in Munich, Germany this past February, followed by the Precious Metals Book.

The CIBJO Blue Books are reputed in the industry as a definitive set of standards for the grading, methodology and nomenclature standards for diamonds, coloured gemstones, pearls, precious metals, and recently, also for gemmological terminology and nomenclature. The standards represent a consensus derived from the broad expertise of committees formed by representatives from trade organisations and laboratories in the diamond, coloured gemstone, cultured pearl, precious metals and jewellery industries, and also from individuals outside the committees.