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 To be able to finance the promotion of Tahiti’s cultured pearl the world over professionals in the business and government officials have instated a tax of 200 cfp per gram on the export of pearls. This tax is applicable to loose pearls only and not to pearls that are already in a setting.
To ensure this law is respected particularly in regards to importation and exportation Customs Services survey pearls by X ray machine to monitor travellers and freight.
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 The laws are very strict in regards to the quality of pearls that are permitted to be exported. Pearls that have significant defects on over 60% of the surface or that have a layer of mother of pearl that is inferior to 0.88 mm covering the nucleus are considered discards.
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Considering the rarity of naturally coloured pearls this has incited man to dye pearls to the colour of their preference. In the past the preferred method was by bathing pearls in silver nitrate, nowadays they are often showered in cobalt or dyed with synthetic colours, these sorts of processes mean that any pearl regardless or origin can be coloured to look like Tahitian cultured pearls.
However the quality and durability of these processes are illusory and the importation of these types of products is strictly forbidden in French Polynesia.
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