Consumers urged to buy natural gemstones from specialised stores
MUSCAT: Natural gemstones are subject to various forms of cheating and fraud by many traders. Keeping in view of their high prices, entry of cheap and imitation stones as well as fraud, the Directorate-general of Standards and Metrology of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has taken initiatives to protect the consumers.
Implementing provisions of the Royal Decree No 109/2000, the ministry examined 978 different samples of precious stones during 2017. It had examined 377 samples in 2016.
Nasser bin Ashraf al Balushi, Head of Precious Stones Department and Testing Laboratory in the Directorate-general of Standards and Metrology, says: “Article 7 of the Royal Decree 109/2000 states that it is not permissible to sell valuable stones unless they are accompanied by a card indicating the name of the stone, its class, weight, colour and quality in terms of purity, properties, safety from breaking, scratching and any other defects and the extent of exposure to any kind of treatments or processings”.
The precious stone testing laboratory will determine the type of treatment for these stones, if any, and issue a certificate bearing the specifications of the precious stone. The test will be for colour polished stones, diamonds and pearls. The jewellery which have precious stones as well as raw and rough stones would also be tested, he added. He said that this section of the directorate was trying to increase the level of awareness of among traders and consumers and coordinating with government and private agencies.
Al Balushi said that natural stone remains a natural stone regardless of its geographic origin. However, it is the geographic source which effects the price. The collectors of precious stones often attache huge importance to its geographical origin or country of origin, which has the greatest impact on the price. “The best example of the influence of the source is Iranian turquoise. Iranian turquoise traders often import turquoise from Tibet and sell it in their markets as Iranian Turquoise, perhaps because of the historical background of the stone. “There are a lot of other examples of it. Australian opal is higher than the Ethiopian opal, which makes Ethiopian opal traders export it to Australia and then re-export it to the rest of the world,” he said.
He said that it was difficult to determine the country of origin because of continuous emergence of new exporting countries and the high cost of these technologies.
For example, the American Institute GIA mentions the country of origin in test reports of stones: Red sapphires and emeralds. The American Institute is able to identify the source country in all cases.
Nasser al Balushi said that the misuse of the geographical source of the precious stones in marketing and influencing consumer decision is illegal. He urged consumers to buy from shops specialised in selling these stones and not from travelling merchants or hawkers.
These specialised shops in Oman are inspected periodically by specialists of the Directorategeneral of Standards and Metrology of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He also urges consumers to take official invoice from these shops which has name of the stone and all other basic information.
The invoice will help in protecting the right of the buyer. He said that it ensures that the card is attached to the stone as stipulated in Article 7 of Royal Decree No 109/2000. He noted that examination of the stone is done in a specialised test laboratory.