The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will temporarily increase the scope of its laboratory services in Dubai and Hong Kong to offset logistical challenges related to tariffs.
The institute will now accept submissions of D- to Z-color rough and polished up to 9.99 carats in its Dubai lab, rather than its previous cap of diamonds up to 3.99 carats, the GIA said Monday. The Hong Kong location, which had the same size restriction as Dubai, will allow D to Z rough and polished above 3.99 carats and beyond 10 carats as well as fancy-color diamonds, until further notice.
Labs in Bangkok, Thailand; Gaborone, Botswana; Johannesburg, South Africa; Tokyo, Japan, and India’s Surat and Mumbai, will continue to accept diamonds up to 3.99 carats. Rough diamonds sent for origin reports are subject to the Kimberley Process Certification rules in each country, the institute noted. Meanwhile, the labs in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo will continue to provide services for colored stones and pearls, and Mumbai will continue to supply pearl services.
Previously, the GIA required all diamonds above 3.99 carats to be shipped to its US labs in New York and Carlsbad, California, which were also the destinations for most colored diamonds. The GIA’s change in procedure comes after it announced to customers last week that it would suspend the acceptance of goods at its labs abroad that needed to be shipped to the US for service. The move came in the wake of a slew of “reciprocal” tariffs US President Donald Trump slapped on multiple countries, the last of which will go into effect on Wednesday.
The GIA labs in Carlsbad and New York will continue to take in diamonds, colored stones and pearls of any size from clients in the US, or with a US country of origin, the institute said. The GIA will pass on any tariff fees for submissions made by clients directly to the GIA’s US labs from abroad.
The GIA did not specify for how long the expanded services would be in place.
Image: GIA graded diamonds. (Shutterstock)
