Document provided with every invoice
Jade Treatment Information Sheet
What the French decree requires a seller to say about stone treatments, what the A, B and C classification of jade covers, and what I do or do not know about each listing in this shop.
- Sheet made available before purchase, article 10 of decree no. 2002-65
- The treatment status of my pieces is not determined
- I write neither “grade A jadeite”, nor “type A”, nor “untreated”
Why this page exists
French decree no. 2002-65 of 14 January 2002, on the trade in gemstones and pearls, requires in its article 10 that an information sheet on treatments be made available to the buyer before the sale, then handed over with the invoice. This page is that sheet. It can be reached from every product, from the shop, from the terms of sale and from the checkout, and its content is attached to every order.
One detail few pages mention, and it matters: this decree names neither jade, nor jadeite, nor nephrite. It carries no positive list of gem names. It is its general rules that apply to jade, as they do to any other stone in its scope.
The decree itself sets no penalty. Enforcement runs through the French consumer code: article L.441-1 punishes deception as to the nature, species, origin or substantial qualities of a product, and article L.454-1 sets the penalty at three years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros. That is not a drafting detail: it is what makes writing “jade” on serpentine something other than a commercial approximation.
What the decree requires in writing
Two articles answer each other. The first requires a treatment to be disclosed, the second exempts three long standing practices.
Article 2: the treatment belongs in the name
The name of the stone must be completed by the word “treated” or by the indication of the treatment undergone, as soon as it has been irradiated, laser treated, dyed, surface diffused, filled, or subjected to any other laboratory method that changes its appearance, its color or its clarity.
That is what makes the name “Malaysia jade” indefensible for a dyed quartzite: the color is added, and the name hides it instead of saying it. Dyed jade, in detail.
Article 3: three practices escape that mention
Three traditional lapidary practices do not have to be disclosed:
- impregnation with a colorless fluid substance;
- heat treatment;
- bleaching without dye or varnish.
One question stays open, and I would rather write it than sidestep it. A jadeite called B is bleached with acid and then impregnated with resin. The words of article 3 come close, and deciding whether that process falls under the exemption calls for a reading of the text that I have not established yet.
This page does not depend on the answer: it says what I know and what I do not know, and I do not know what my pieces have been through. The question is set out in full in the article on the classification.
Two forbidden words, and a vocabulary trap
Article 5 forbids “semi-precious” and “semi-fine” across the whole scope of the decree, without exception. It is its only outright ban on a word, and it is also the one the crystal healing web ignores most. Neither word appears anywhere on this site, not in a title, not on a label.
Article 4 forbids “cultured”, “cultivated”, “real”, “precious”, “fine”, “genuine” and “natural” to describe reconstituted, composite, synthetic, artificial or imitation products. The word “genuine” therefore remains perfectly legitimate on a stone that is one: that is exactly its use. What “precious stone” means, and does not mean.
The A, B and C classification
It is the only classification that exists for jadeite, and it speaks only of treatment, never of the beauty or the quality of the stone. It is used internationally in the trade.
| Category | What it describes | What it means for the buyer |
|---|---|---|
| A | Jadeite whose color and structure have not been altered. Cutting and polishing only. | It is the only category that keeps its value over time and that fears neither heat nor ultrasound. |
| B | Jadeite bleached with acid, which removes the brown impurities, then impregnated with resin to give it back its cohesion. | The resin yellows and cracks over the years. The stone withstands neither ultrasound, nor steam, nor thermal shock. |
| C | Dyed jadeite, often after a B treatment. The color is added. | The dye fades in the light and can migrate on contact with a solvent. |
The “A / AA / AAA” scale you will see elsewhere does not exist. It borrows the letter A from the real classification to label a level of commercial quality decided by the seller. A “AAA jade” means nothing, and the ambiguity is not innocent.
What I can say about my pieces, and what I cannot
Here is the exact state of my information, with nothing rounded off.
- The mineral
- Established, when the stone reaches me bare: hydrostatic weighing separates jadeite, nephrite, serpentine and quartzite without ambiguity. The measurement and its date are published on the product page.
- The treatment status
- Not determined. My supplier does not know the status of their stock. That is not an evasive answer on their part: it is the ordinary state of this market, where a stone passes through several hands before it reaches a workshop.
- What would settle it
- An infrared spectroscopy in a laboratory, the only examination that sees the resin in a B jadeite. I do not have one done, and I do not pretend otherwise.
- What the scale does not say
- Nothing about treatment. The resin does not change the mass enough to show. The three limits of my measurement.
The direct consequence, and it is a writing rule I hold myself to: I never write “grade A jadeite”, “type A”, “untreated” or “natural” on a product page in this shop. Not out of editorial caution, but because it would assert something I do not know.
Nor do I let it be understood by omission. Every product page that publishes a density also publishes, in the same block, that the treatment status is not determined, and why.
What it changes for you, in practice
Since the status is unknown, I recommend treating every piece as if it might be impregnated. It costs nothing and it covers every case.
- Never an ultrasonic cleaner, never steam. Resin does not withstand it. Lukewarm water, a little mild soap, a soft cloth.
- No solvent, no alcohol, no household product, including for cleaning the metal.
- No heat source, no radiator, no car parcel shelf, no very hot bath.
- Away from prolonged direct light when the piece is not being worn.
Care in detail and how to store jade jewelry.
And if the color or the material of a piece you receive does not match what the product page states, the right of withdrawal applies as for any distance purchase: the steps to follow are here.
Rollers, gua sha and carved pieces too
The decree covers the trade in gemstones, not the shape given to the object. A massage roller or a gua sha sold under the name jade is therefore subject to it exactly like a ring.
It is precisely on that shelf that the rule matters most. Serpentine and dyed quartzite are the market norm there, far more than in jewelry: a “jade roller” costing a few euros almost never is one. The objects in this shop go through the same measurement and the same sheet as the rest, and I explain what to look at.
What this sheet is not
It is not a certificate, and I issue no certificate. I am not a gemologist, I have no laboratory, and nothing here engages the responsibility of a third party body. This document describes the information I hold on the pieces I sell, including when that information is missing.
On a disputed case, my answer will be that I cannot settle it, and I prefer that to a comfortable assertion. Write to me if a piece raises a question.
This sheet is made available before purchase and attached to every order, in accordance with article 10 of decree no. 2002-65. The online version prevails. If the information available on a listing changes, the product page and this page are corrected together.
Published on September 9, 2026.