In the annual message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly the jewelry industry has not been mentioned among priority issues. And jewellers themselves - for instance, from the Guild of Jewellers of Russia Association – came to know in actual practice about the absence of constructive interest on the part of appropriate ministries and agencies towards the jewelry industry. Sometimes, this comes to the point of absurdity: the jewelry public expresses its intention to fight smuggled goods to meet the interests of consumers, while the Federal Customs Service is stoutly against disclosing data on jewelry import and export (these data could help to calculate the share of illegal jewelry traffic in the Russian retail market).
While Russia is gearing up to enter the World Trade Organization, the task of upgrading the jewelry industry to increase its competitiveness has acquired particular urgency. The issue of developing a strategy for the jewelry industry and its approval at the state level (as it has been done for the Russian motor industry and being prepared for the textile industry) is high on the agenda. These and related subjects have been discussed at the expanded session of the Guild of Jewellers of Russia’s Council chaired by Alexander Ivanyuk in Moscow on November 18. The meeting was attended by the representatives of TsentrYuvelir (S. Alkhazov), RESTEK JUNWEX Media Holding (V. Budny), OAO Bronnitski Yuvelir (I. Chepik), RIA RosYuvelirExpert (O. Mironova), Guild of Jewellers of the Volgo-Vyatski Region (G. Avakyan).
The following figures were voiced at the meeting: in Russia the cost of processing gold into jewelry pieces is $6-10 per gram of a jewelry item, while in China it is $0.5-2.0. In this context, it would be worth to perform a wide comparative analysis of competitiveness by 10-15 parameters (cost of equipment, energy expenses, salaries and social security payments, crediting, etc.). The experts of the Guild of Jewellers of Russia with the assistance of the World Jewelry Confederation (SIBJO) are capable to do it.
It is important to create a system of guarantees raising consumers’ trust to jewelry made in Russia. In particular, the meeting discussed the standards of the Guild of Jewellers of Russia for jewelry alloys and jewelry inserts. The participants of the meeting had a low regard of these ideas saying that standards proclaimed by a public organization can be deemed only as a marketing mix since the law permits many standards introduced by corporations.
The meeting also discussed the system of voluntary certification for jewelry stores under the Guild’s auspices. However, this issue is far from being resolved as the majority of stores do not participate in the Guild.
It is known, that in a number of countries jewellers’ associations enjoy the rights of self-regulating organizations as if carrying out some functions belonging to ministries - for example, they forbid faulty businessmen to be engaged in jewelry business. However, the Russian law does not limit the number of self-regulating organizations. Hence, it is possible to establish a lot of such organizations in provinces which precludes efficiency of any public punishment for dishonest businessmen.
Outdated laws and instructions which have been practiced since the Soviet time as for instance Article 191 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the instruction on inventory audit of jewelry stores and rules of jewelry transportation, are an obvious stumbling block for the jewelry industry.
However, the meeting noted one positive event: recently the Federal Security Service of Russia invited the Guild of Jewellers of Russia as an expert for the notorious case involving the Altyn Jewelry Network. There is a hope that there will be a wider persecution of jewelry smugglers, including corruption practices.
Rough&Polished
