Consumers warned about imported pearls

While the Cook Islands produces thousands of quality black pearls each year, there is a worryingly high number of imported and fake pearls on the island being passed off as the real thing.
To overcome this problem, the Cook Islands Pearl Authority today issues its pamphlet of Consumer Information Guidelines for all pearl retailers.
The Consumer Information Guidelines aims to beat the ever growing problem of imported pearls being passed off to visitors as genuine Cook Islands pearls.
“Visitors to our island can’t always tell the difference between a real Cook Islands pearl and an imported pearl. It is the retailer’s responsibility to make sure that the customer knows exactly what they’re buying”, says Pearl Authority Inspector, Mailena Rawiri.
Rawiri was employed at the end of August in the newly created Grading & Quality Control Division of the Pearl Authority.
“The problem of passing-off has been around for the last two to three years but, unfortunately, it has risen drastically in the past two. More and more complaints are being laid with the Pearl Authority by visitors who believe they have been ripped off. Complaints like these can do a lot of damage to our pearl industry and our country’s reputation”.
Under the Fair Trading Act 2008, making a false or misleading representation that pearls or Mother of Pearl products for sale are of a particular kind, standard, quality, grade, composition, style or model other than what they actually are, is an offence. The Pearl Authority is now empowered to bring legal proceedings against those retailers who commit offences in contravention of the Act. Penalties for convictions are a maximum fine of $10,000 for an individual and a maximum fine of $20,000 for a business. Pearl retailers were invited to meet with the Pearl Authority at the beginning of this week to put forward their suggestions and ideas on what the minimum requirements of the Guidelines should be.
“We are very grateful to those few pearl retailers who took the time to meet with us and gave us their practical ideas and feedback. Their strongest views have been incorporated into our Guidelines.”
The Guidelines include the separation of imported and fake pearls from genuine Cook Islands pearls in display units or wherever they may be displayed. It also calls for clear labeling of non-Cook Islands pearls. “ Separation and clear labeling will go a long way in ensuring that customers are not confused about what they are looking at,” says Rawiri.
“When visitors come to the Cook Islands and buy pearls, they want to purchase a genuine Cook Island pearl not imitation pearls imported from China. When displays contain a mixture of these types of pearls, the visitor may be under the impression that all pearls within the display unit are Cook Islands pearls. Since they are on holiday in the Cook Islands, it’s only natural for them to assume that all pearls for sale here are Cook Island ones. “
Rawiri says problems arise when they return to their own countries and realise that what they purchased is a dyed freshwater pearl imported from China instead of the genuine Cook Islands pearl they thought they had bought. The Guidelines also include a recommendation that retailers follow the lead of many of the well established pearl retailers and develop their own certificate of authenticity to help build confidence in their own range of Cook Islands pearls.
Rawiri says they have set a Guidelines compliance date which is 23 October 2009. In the mean time she will be on hand to answer any questions that retailers may have and to help them during this process of correctly separating and labeling their pearls.
“If we work together, we can begin to repair some of the damage that has been done to our pearl Industry and the reputation of our country”.
- Cook Islands Pearl Authority Media release

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