President of the Diamond Manufacturers & Importers Association of America (DMIA), Ronnie VanderLinden, was elected President of the newly-formed United States Jewelry Council (USJC). The new organisation is a coalition of leading diamond, gem and jewellry trade associations in the United States that have come together “to assure that the U.S. jewellery industry is collectively represented at government and international levels and will deal more effectively with key issues of social, ethical and environmental importance that might impact the U.S. jewellery industry at large”.

The DMIA joined the new trade body together with the American Gem Society (AGS); the Diamond Council of America (DCA); the Diamond Bourse of Southeast United States (DBSE); the Diamond Dealers Club of New York (DDC); the Indian Diamond and Colored Stone Association (IDCA); Jewelers of America (JA), the Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America (MJSA) and the Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA).

The  Council also elected David J. Bonaparte, President & CEO of JA as its Treasurer; and Ruth Batson, CEO of AGS as its Secretary. James Evans Lombe, Director of Ethical Initiatives, Jewelers of America, was appointed CEO of the Council.

The Council said in a press release  that the organisation's members, “whose combined memberships represent the vast majority of the U.S. jewellery industry, believe U.S. businesses need a united voice on issues as diverse as environmental mining standards, factory working conditions, full and proper disclosure of all relevant information before sale, be it the type of stone, weight, metal quality etc. as well as any other issues that can impact consumer confidence in the diamond and jewellery industry such as the financial regulations on anti-money laundering or the international systems to prevent the re-occurrence of conflict diamonds”. The Council is a member of the World Diamond Council, and works with the WDC to enhance the U.S. jewellery industry's voice in the Kimberley Process.

"The success or failure of US-based jewellery businesses – and the entire diamond and jewellery supply chain – is in large part dependent on a healthy representation of US businesses in the national and global arena," VanderLinden commented. "These challenges on the national and global scale are more than an individual association can handle alone. The US industry needs a co-ordinated effort to ensure we can protect consumer confidence in our product and have a say on policies that affect the livelihoods of our members."