JA Provides Further Guidance to Members on De Beers Suit

To provide assistance for jewelry retailers in answering media or consumer questions about the De Beers settlement, Jewelers of America (JA) has released guidance documents, available on the Members Only section of its website, http://www.jewelers.org.

The three one-page documents cover background on the case itself, information on how to answer consumers’ questions and guidance on answering media inquiries.

The class action suit was filed in 2005 and accuses De Beers of using its market position to control prices of rough diamonds. De Beers proposed in 2005 to settle the majority of the claims for $250 million.

Public notices on the settlement were distributed beginning January 9. The notice campaign, which will continue through the early spring, is expected to reach 87 percent of the consumer settlement class. 

Because the claims process will require consumers to itemize the amount of their purchases of diamond jewelry, consumers may ask retailers to research the purchase price of any diamond or diamond jewelry they obtained at their stores between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006.