It’s not a diamond, it’s not round.

[Bron357]

I’m just here with my sad story that just gets sadder.
Apparently my lab diamond has been determined a Biosecurity hazard.
I tried to ascertain why or how a lab diamond, essentially pure carbon and inert could be subject to quarantine and further testing.
Bear with me as I try to not have a screaming breakdown.

Govt officer - the documentation received with your import doesn’t match the goods in the parcel.
Me - Excuse me? (I’m thinking did they send the wrong diamond? Surely not).
Govt officer - the documentation shows a round diamond whereas the article is rectangular.
Me - sorry, what!
Govt officer - diamonds are round and the article is not.
Me - it’s a baguette shape, that a rectangle.
Govt officer - diamonds are round and the document indicates a round diamond. We do not know what composition this article is and unless the correct and matching documentation is received it remains under investigation.
Me - (trying to gather my wits) but the Documentation does match the diamond. The diamond will have the number from the report engraved on its girdle.
Govt officer - I don’t under what you mean, girdle, that’s female clothing.
Me - the edge of the diamond is called a girdle
Govt officer - silence - chirp chirp chirp
Me - if you have a Loupe with high enough magnification, like x60, you’ll be able to read it.
Govt officer - silence then, if necessary a small proportion of the article will be removed for testing
Me - interjecting no, if you do that you’ll ruin the diamond
Govt officer - if we don’t have correct documentation we are entitled to test the article to ensure that it is not a prohibited or toxic substance.
Me (in my head OMG I can’t believe this) oh um ok.
Govt officer - please arrange the correct documentation so we can release the article to you.
Me - ok, bye.
This is the document that shows a round diamond and therefore doesn’t match my baguette diamond.

 

[CMN]

Ok…..I need to know what happened next. Did you ask to speak to someone else?

Maybe refer to the measurements in the description….it can’t be round!

 

[Bron357]

Ok…..I need to know what happened next. Did you ask to speak to someone else?

Maybe refer to the measurements in the description….it can’t be round!

I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it has been. I’ve made more than a dozen calls, spent hours on hold and spoken to multiple call centre staff who while very polite have a script that they stick to and cant deviate from it.
Its been a nightmare.
How does a gemstone of any type or origin end up in quarantine for heavens sake? What pest, insect, soil, plant matter or animal matter ie biohazard material can be in or on a lab diamond.
I’ve sent off a few complaint emails to the various areas concerning imports and quarantine. Heck, I’ve even read the complete legislation including amendments and appendices and I still cannot understand on what possible grounds they are holding my lab diamond as a biohazard.
What else could it be? Drugs? poison? Nuclear bomb precursor ?
I’m just hoping they decide to return to sender rather than destroy. Then at least I’ve get some of my money back (less of course 2 x FedEx shipping, fees and charges).
Sigh.

 

[CMN]

Just bizarre.
Have you sought clarity on what “correct documentation” they require. One thought is whether they are wanting a declaration from the sender that the item does not contain asbestos. There is a form for this.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Can’t they just quarantine it? My son had a thumb stone locked up for a few months but then they sent it to him.

 

[Mreader]

This is CRAZY! Ugh I am so sorry you’re going through this!

 

[lavenderdragonfly23]

WTH?!?

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I strongly recommend screaming into a pillow to release frustration, like over and over and repeat as needed, lol… would in person visit give you more pull?

Ugh, this is insane, it’s clearly a diamond

 

[dk168]

I have not read all the posts in detail, however, if the certificate/documentation from the seller is wrong in statig the stone is a round when it is a baguette, then IMHO, they should correct their error and send you a replacement stating the correct shape, etc. etc...

DK

 

[Lookinagain]

OMG. So they are looking at the diagram instead of the written word describing the shape. Don't they have someone who might know better?

 

[VRBeauty]

What a nightmare!

Have you tried showing them a chart with diamond shapes?

Good luck. It sounds like you got the bureaucrat to end all bureaucrats. I hope you manage to connect with someone who has a bit of common sense!

 

[Garnetgirl]

9.60x4.35x3.14 is ROUND ???

 

[Karl_K]

I contacted my contact at igi and its being looked into if they can update the report with the matching diagram.
I will report back when I hear anything.
Evidentially its a known issue and has been corrected for newer reports.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

id be going to the media with this
the right junolist would have a field day

 

[Bron357]

I contacted my contact at igi and its being looked into if they can update the report with the matching diagram.
I will report back when I hear anything.
Evidentially its a known issue and has been corrected for newer reports.

Thanks Karl. It’s totally unbelievable. I know that the call centre person is just stuck with saying, over and over, please provide correct documentation, because that’s what their system says to say but I could not get to speak to a supervisor.
Oh, and they also need a Manufacturers declaration saying
1 Origin of goods
Choice between being Plant, Animal, Biological or 100% synthetic
2. Composition of goods
4. End use
3. Import documents if article isn’t for therapeutic use.
Declaration has to be on letterhead given name of Company, address, phone number and Signature of Officer making declaration with full name and title.
And with the threat - one opportunity to provide declaration and penalties up to $200,000 and two years in jail.
I tried to explain to them that the Vendor doesn’t know who the actual manufacturer is. It originated in India but as you know there are many manufacturers and no one is keeping records of each and every tiny diamond they produce. Sure they get IDed when processed for a lab report but there’s no provision, as far as I know, for the specific manufacturer to be recorded.
The questions they are asking make no sense. A diamond is the purest form of elemental Carbon. It’s 100% inert, it can’t be reverted back to original form (graphite or carbon rich gas) and it can’t be converted to another form or substance. If it could be reduced to its atomic form, its atoms will only be Carbon.
And do you think I can make anyone understand this?
I do wonder if when I mentioned that it was Crystal, because that’s what a diamond is, that was taken to mean like Crystal Meth?
Who knows, the only people you can speak to, after waiting on hold up to 40 minutes each time, is a call centre operator who has a script of answers.
Sigh.

 

[Karl_K]

@Bron357 ouch what country?

 

[Bron357]

WTH?!?

I’m so sorry you are going through this. I strongly recommend screaming into a pillow to release frustration, like over and over and repeat as needed, lol… would in person visit give you more pull?

Ugh, this is insane, it’s clearly a diamond

Yes, you can only imagine my frustration.
The call centre people are very polite but they just answer with scripted answers and refer me back to the Vendor to “get the correct documentation “ to process the importation. I can’t make them understand that there isn’t any other different documentation.
I think when I told the guy on the phone that the number was laser inscribed on the girdle, he thought I was trying to make a fool out of him or something and he just shut me down.
I think we forget that people who know nothing about diamonds are totally incredulous when informed that a minuscule number is laser engraved on the side edge of “an article” the size of a grain of rice.

 

[Bron357]

Ok…..I need to know what happened next. Did you ask to speak to someone else?

Maybe refer to the measurements in the description….it can’t be round!

As I discovered with 5 seperate phone calls, each with a wait on hold of up to 40 minutes, that there is no provision within the call centre to “escalate to a supervisor”, you can only get call centre staff who have a book of scripted answers and nothing else. The only other method is escalating is by email, which I have done. Received an automated response advising that matter will be attended within 14 days but a response will take longer. And, if I don’t like the response, there is another provision to escalated my response to a further review - no time line given.
Don’t you just love bureaucracy.

 

[Karl_K]

I wonder i they are putting it in the wrong category.. because it says lab grown they arent processing it under jewelery or gemstones.

 

[Bron357]

Just bizarre.
Have you sought clarity on what “correct documentation” they require. One thought is whether they are wanting a declaration from the sender that the item does not contain asbestos. There is a form for this.

The correct documentation includes a report matching the article and when I explained that it was the correct report and how they could check it because the report number was engraved onto the girdle of the diamond ( in hindsight I think the guy on the phone thought I was making fun of him) and a manufacturers declaration stating origin but only Plant, Animal, Biological or 100% synthetic are the choices, Composition, End Use and an import permit if not for therapeutic use.
When I tried to explain that the questions can’t be answered because they don’t apply I just got told they need the answers. When I told them there wasn’t any import documentation needed for a lab diamond because their BICON database doesn’t indicate that a lab created gemstone of any type needs a Biosecurity import document, they just repeat that they need correct documentation. Once the goods are identified, then the need for an import documentation will be determined.
So I don’t know what they think it is, they aren’t saying.

 

[Bron357]

I wonder i they are putting it in the wrong category.. because it says lab grown they arent processing it under jewelery or gemstones.

I guess so.
The import doc says “Lab grown CVD” so maybe those words in the description of goods is the issue.
Gemstones of all types go through Customs. This made it through Customs but thereafter was seized by Quarantine under the BioSecurity Act 2015 as a suspected Biohazard.
Though in the details section of the invoice it is very specific stating lab grown diamond with carat weight, colour and clarity grading and the IGI report number (which is how I was able to access a copy). I can only presume that this is the report they are saying doesn’t match and the @#$& at the call centre couldn't understand how proving the report matched was by the number inscribed onto the diamond.
They obviously don’t believe or understand that it is a diamond, one grown in a laboratory. I’m not sure what they think it is other than a suspected biological hazard.
And it’s not like I’m bringing in a pallet load of them.
It is one, single, rectangle piece, the size of a rice grain.
And seriously, can you imagine how many “lab grown gemstones”, that’s all the cubic zirconia, sapphire, topaz, quartz, come into Australia - like millions.

 

[Bron357]

I have not read all the posts in detail, however, if the certificate/documentation from the seller is wrong in statig the stone is a round when it is a baguette, then IMHO, they should correct their error and send you a replacement stating the correct shape, etc. etc...

DK

No, there’s a generic image of a round diamond on the IGI report and I can only presume that’s what they mean when they say the document doesn’t match the article. And my attempt to explain that the report number was inscribed on the girdle was met with complete silence before his tone changed to angry/ cranky. I think he thought I was making fun of him. It’s the size of a grain of rice, the edge of the side absolutely minuscule so how could a number be there!

 

[Karl_K]

“Lab grown CVD” Diamond or just “Lab grown CVD”?

 

[Bron357]

“Lab grown CVD” Diamond or just “Lab grown CVD”?

That’s where it is weird, the shipping invoice detail declaration which I presume is on the outside of the parcel says
“Baguette cut 1.34 carat G colour VS laboratory diamond number xyz”.
Only on the Lab report, which is or was inside the package, is there any reference to “CVD”.
Unless FedEx the shipper wrote on some other document which I don’t know of, I don’t know why the BioSecurity directive says
Goods - Lab Grown CVD
And nothing else.
Someone has abbreviated the goods description to something that I guess makes no sense.
Maybe that is the problem.
Maybe unless the words are on their BioSecurity Directions form they may as well not exist.
No one would know what Lab Grown CVD is as a thing.

 

[Bron357]

Thank you everyone, the venting has been most helpful.
I’m sad I can’t do my watch conversion, it would have looked great, but in the scheme of things it’s upsetting and frustrating but such is life.
Onwards and upwards towards my next conversion that won’t involve biohazards

 

[kenny]

@Bron357 Being a VS2, the biohazard could be the feather came from a bird with bird flu.

 

[kenny]

Oh yeah, and sorry you're dealing with this absurd fustercluck.

But always remember, "We're from the government, and we're here to help."

 

[Bron357]

@Bron357 It's a VS2, so the biohazard could be a feather from a bird with bird flu.

Kenny, my DH said I used the wrong words.
I tried to explain how lab diamonds are grown from a seed ***** alarm******* alarm*******
I also referred to the “goods” as being crystal ****** alarm******alarm********
As if I could plant this “seed” and grow some more of it (darn)
And if drugs aka crystal meth, my habit must be very small because how much of a high can you get from a crystal the size of a grain of rice?
And thankfully the report never attempted to describe any inclusions, imagine having to explain how one or more feathers got into the tiny rectangle let alone that any feathers present have nothing to do with birds. Just like the girdle, not ladies underwear, being the thin side edge of the tiny rectangle has a number inscribed on it.
As if.

 

[Dr_Diesel]

Ok…..I need to know what happened next. Did you ask to speak to someone else?

Maybe refer to the measurements in the description….it can’t be round!

Absurd. ALL diamonds are round, ma'am.

That must be an error on the paperwork

Moreover, the documentations mention a loaf of French Bread that was not found in the package.

Are you aware that importing food products is another breech of the Biohazard Act?

Furthermore, it is quite odd that you would attempt to import feathers, women's undergarments, bread, seeds and crystal methamphetamine but no diamond in a small package marked "diamond."

This is highly suspicious and warrants further investigation.

 

[kenny]

... Just like the girdle, not ladies underwear, being the thin side edge of the tiny rectangle has a number inscribed on it.

But but but, numbers fit on this girdle inscription.

 

[Bron357]

Absurd. ALL diamonds are round, ma'am.

That must be an error on the paperwork

Moreover, the documentations mention a loaf of French Bread that was not found in the package.

Are you aware that importing food products is another breech of the Biohazard Act?

Furthermore, it is quite odd that you would attempt to import feathers, women's undergarments, bread, seeds and crystal methamphetamine but no diamond in a small package marked "diamond."

This is highly suspicious and warrants further investigation.

****lightbulb moment*******
Under BICON a Baguette most definitely is a quarantine concern and yes, as long as under 10kg (that’s 50,000 carats of baguette diamond or less) I can do a personal importation as long as I have that Manufacturers declaration.
And that’s probably why there is a concern with the origin, the invoice says India.
EVERYONE knows baguettes come from France.