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The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA) was founded in 2001 in Australia after Bruce Cohen discovered the IDC standard were not available in Australia as they were in Antwerp, South Africa and Germany. It is based in Piccadilly Tower, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW, Australia.

Bruce Cohen comes from a family with many generations in the diamond industry. He took lead of the family in the trade in the 1970's in Johannesburg South Africa, and continues in Australia.

Michael Cohen is the eldest of two sons. During the 1980's, he served an apprenticeship as a diamond polisher, cleaver and marker for a major DeBeers sight holder. In the 1990's Michael established offices in Kimberly, Wolmaranstad and diamond cutting works in Johannesburg, South Africa, from where the family produced polished diamonds and traded in rough and polished diamonds around the globe.

Roy Cohen, the younger of the two brothers, worked for the Anglo American Corporation for several years before joining the family business in the 90's. His was active in the trading of rough diamonds and developing mining interests in the Kimberly area of South Africa and other African countries. The head of the Jewellery Council Laboratory Mr. Les Milner, was also instrumental in the planning and infrastructure of the DCLA and bringing many years of experience and knowledge to the fore.

The DCLA is now well established and the DCLA certificate widely recognised as the Australian benchmark, and one of the most accurate and consistent grading laboratories worldwide.

DCLA does this by being the most proficient state of the art laboratory in Australia, and the only laboratory that provides a full guarantee of its work. According to the website, www.dcla.com.au, the principle mission of the DCLA is to protect diamond consumers, and consumer confidence, when buying diamonds. A fundamental element of this confidence is providing accuracy, consistency and transparency in diamond grading.

As such the Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA) works to be one of the world's foremost independent diamond grading and certification laboratories, providing independent and guaranteed diamond grading certificates, or diamond grading reports, for natural diamonds.

The DCLA is the only diamond grading and certification laboratory, both in Australia and worldwide, to provide a 100% consumer guarantee that a diamond certified by the DCLA laboratory is an accurately graded natural diamond.

The Diamond Certification laboratory of Australia is equipped with the most advanced diamond technology and equipment in Australia. All diamonds submitted to the DCLA laboratory are individually identified and tested to International Diamond Council standards, ensuring that the diamond has not been treated or enhanced in any way, and are of natural origin.

The DCLA Diamond Grading Certificate assures the owner that the diamond is free of all known diamond treatments and diamond enhancements. The DCLA Certificate confirms that the diamond is a natural diamond and not a man-made synthetic diamond. DCLA state of the art cold laser inscription system permanently links the diamond to the DCLA Diamond Grading Certificate, providing added confidence without altering or damaging the diamond in any way.

Independent & Accurate Diamond AssessmentDCLA Independence means that the DCLA Diamond Grading and Certification Laboratory is autonomous from all diamond and diamond jewellery businesses. The DCLA Laboratory receives no grants or funding from the diamond or jewellery trade, it is completely self funded and independent.

Diamond CertificationThe DCLA Diamond Certificate is a comprehensive diamond grading report, providing all the information necessary to make an educated diamond purchase. The DCLA Diamond Certificate guarantees the authenticity of diamonds, and rules out the possibility of a diamond being synthetic or an imitation. The Diamond Certificate also contains a complete description of the diamond including: a unique ID number, carat weight, colour grade, clarity grade, shape, measurements, proportions, proportion grade, transparency grade, polish grade, symmetry grade, fluorescence, hue and other remarks or characteristics which determine the quality of the diamond.

The individual parameters listed above allow for accurate identification of the diamond, while the overall grade for a set of parameters provides easy understanding of a diamond's quality.

All of these diamond quality characteristics determine the value of a diamond, and are discussed in detail under The 5 C'S of diamond grading. The Diamond Certificate does not date or expire, and provides a steady foundation for calculating the replacement value of your diamond. To prevent counterfeiting the certificate has various security features including holograms, a UV activated text seal covering the information field, special UV activated paper, and an embossed foiled crest.

DCLA also provides an Online Diamond Grading Report Check, which you can use to verify the authenticity of information for your diamond, should it be required for an insurance appraisal, or to replace a lost or damaged Diamond Certificate.

Cold Laser InscriptionLaser inscription is the use of a very fine, precise laser beam to write a grading report number or customised personal message on the girdle (outside perimeter) of a diamond. The laser inscription is totally invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen with a magnifying loupe. It does not change the colour or clarity grade of a diamond and is considered permanent as it can only be removed by a professional diamond cutter. The DCLA uses the latest cold laser technology that allows excellent control during inscription without damaging the diamond (unlike a hot laser). Laser inscription will ensure that the diamond set in the ring is the same as the one described in the grading report. At a later stage if you decide to remake or polish your ring the inscription will ensure that your diamond has not been swapped.

The DCLA uses the most advanced PhotoScribe cold laser inscription technology. PhotoScribe is the only company in the world that guarantees in writing that their patented 'cold' lasers will not crack or fracture your diamonds. If the stone has been laser inscribed, the inscription details will appear on the certificate.

DCLA can verify your diamond against the diamond grading certificate you purchase it with. We will confirm that the diamond matches the grading certificate, whether it is a DCLA Diamond Certificate, or a certificate issued by another internationally recognised laboratory. We will also check that the diamond is unaltered or damaged in any way.

DCLA can verify both loose diamonds and most diamonds mounted in jewellery. Please note, in some cases the DCLA will request a diamond be removed from its setting in order to perform a conclusive verification.

Diamond RegistryRegistering your diamond with the DCLA means your DCLA Registry entry is verified against our internal tracking systems to confirm your ownership. This provides you added protection and verification for your insurance company in the case of loss or theft, easing the claims process.

Increased probability of identifying lost or stolen items. If your diamond is lost or stolen, simply mark it as such in the registry and an industry alert will be sent to members of the industry to be on the lookout for that diamond. The diamond will also be flagged in the DCLA internal systems and picked up immediately should it be sent back to the laboratory for a new grading or other reason.

DCLA offer registry members discounts on further DCLA and ancillinary services. There is a once off listing fee of AU$35.00 per diamond.

Independence & Quality ControlTo ensure a fully objective, independent assessment of your diamond, immediately after a diamond is received, it is placed into a DCLA parcel paper and assigned a unique identification number - all reference to the submitting customer is removed. This way, grades cannot be inadvertently influenced by associating a diamond with a particular customer.

In addition, multiple diamond graders work independently on every diamond - no grader can be influenced by the grades of another. Thus, they cannot be influenced by anyone else's opinion. A minimum of three professionals must independently agree for a diamond's grades to be finalised by the control grader and forwarded to certificate printing.

Every diamond is:
Weighed on a high-precision certified weight scale for exact, accurate weight
Measured with specialised computer technology that calculates precise dimensions and proportions
Screened for all known treatments and tested to ensure that it is natural and not man-made
Colour and fluorescence graded against a set of registered master diamonds, under carefully controlled lighting conditions
Clarity-graded under appropriate magnification
Plotted for identification purposes under binocular microscopic magnification - a drawing of inclusions is present on every Diamond Certificate
Cut-graded for proportions, polish, and symmetry Transparency graded to assess crystal quality

The DCLA provides a trustworthy diamond certification program for Australians and, indeed, world wide.