The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has announced a significant change to the way lab-grown diamonds are graded. Later this year, the institute will abandon the color and clarity scale previously used for natural diamonds. Instead, each submitted stone will first be confirmed as a lab-grown diamond and then graded as either "premium" or "standard" depending on its color, clarity, and finish. Stones that fail to meet the minimum standards will receive no grading.
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This change is a response to the fact that as many as 95% of lab-grown diamonds currently graded fall within a very narrow range of the highest color grades (D-F) and clarity grades (VS1 or higher), a result of advances in production technology. GIA emphasizes that the new grading system aims to make it easier for customers to understand the differences between natural and lab-grown diamonds and to enable them to make a more informed choice. It also marks a return to the earlier ![]()
GIA approach, which from the outset assumed different standards for laboratory diamonds.
