Certificate or grading report

[Paul-Antwerp]

I have a question in a matter that remains vague for me as an European.

In the trade, we are constantly using the term ''certificate'' or ''cert''. However, I have learned here that the appropriate term is ''grading report''. It has even been hinted that the term ''certificate'' is not allowed by the Federal Trade Comission.

Could those of you in the know elaborate on this matter?

Under which circumstances can we call the document a certificate?
What are the legal implications of using the incorrect term?
What are the regulations regarding these terms?

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[oldminer]

I can''t give you and learned legal opinions, but CERT or CERTIFICATE is widely used in place of GRADING REPORT and also for a short report describing the attributes of gemstones combined with precious metal in entire jewelry descriptions, too. I have never heard of any lab or grader who had a problem using the terms interchangably, but there are technical differences which just have not been brought to bear on the topic as of yet.

Obviously, if a lab or grader goes before a court officer or a notary public, swears an oath and has their signature witnessed and sealed, a document becomes some sort of official certificate with some perjury attached to it if found to be purposely false. If one swears an oath that a document is true to their best expert opinion, it might happen that they eventually are found incorrect, but that would not be perjury since the imtemt to lie is an essential ingredient in this sort of civil wrongdoing. Wrong opinions tend not to be illegal although you can be sued in civil proceedings for them under liability laws.

Appraisers and appraisal societies revel in splitting ever finer hairs over terminology. This thread might be one of those and it is fun to see the hair (fur) fly. Call a document anything you want, so long as it contains honest results, and I am sure there would be much more than a battle over what it is called than what it conveys.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

May I bump this question up again?

The thing is, I was under the impression that a certificate implied having a value stated on the document, plus some kind of guarantee.

One of the next days, I am sitting together with some HRD-people (who are using the term ''certificate''), and I wanted to ask them why they hang on to that term, if it should be ''grading report''. But I would like to have some more info on this matter.

Live long,

 

[wildkardde]

An interesting question that I had never thought about. To me the word certificate makes something sound more important or official. A certificate is more like a declaration of something. Like a diploma. Grading report sounds more like what it is. A piece a paper relating the qualities of the stone. Like a grade report from school. I don''t think anyone would call a school report card a certificate. A legal definition is quite complicated I am sure.

 

[jewelerman]

To my knowledge the use of certification isnt against the federal trade commission ruling.At least the use was fine when I took G.I.A. courses and they listed legal and illegal terms.The term certification should be used only if the grading report is drawn up by some one certified by a lab or school to appraise gems and use the labs name in a formal grading report.There are no laws stating what training an appraiser must have so legally anyone can do a grading report.The term cerification can help the client understand that the quality of opinion in the document are from a trained person backed by a professional lab or school.

 

[Allison D.]

Paul, I can't find anything to suggest the FTC has disallowed the use of the term 'cerrtificate'.....here is where I'm looking:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.shtm


I suspect that those who have issues may be looking to the legal definitions of the word certificate.....samples here:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/certificate


I think the perceived problem with the word certificate is it implies verification of color/clarity, and verification tends to apply to imply the data is factual. Because grading is subjective in nature, grading results aren't so much factual as they are expert opinions.

As such, it's not factual to say "that stone is an H color", but it is factual to say "that stone received an H color grade from AGS".

Generally, many consumers have had a harder time with that distinction. They'll say "that stone is certified as an H", thinking that means it MUST be an H color and thinking that it was somehow verified or authenticated as an H color. I think this confusion has caused reputable retailers to favor "grading report" instead of "certificate". Colloquially, it more accurately conveys that the grading reports are opinions, albeit it expert ones.

 

[strmrdr]

Certificate has a specific legal meaning in the US.
Once when acting as an expert witness in a computer related case I submitted my reports to the lawyers and they came back and wanted a certificate.
The difference?
One line:
I strmrdr certify that in my expert opinion..

The difference legally is that I was legally liable for my opinion on a certificate.

One can argue that you are using the common meaning rather than the legal one and call it a certificate but it opens the door to legal responsibility that can not be removed with a disclaimer.

That is my understanding of it and not being a lawyer is likely not all inclusive.