Edinburgh Assay Office introduces Diamond Certification to Heathrow
September 2015 – The Edinburgh Assay Office has introduced a new diamond certification option to its Hallmarking in Transit offering at London’s Heathrow Airport.
The service is provided by Solitaire Gem Labs (SGL) and will enable Hallmarking in Transit customers to add a one-stop, secure diamond certification to the existing hallmarking service.
The addition of diamond certification on site will enable importers of precious metal jewellery from outside the UK to have their goods hallmarked and certified at one secure location, as part of the import process.
Scott Walter, CEO and Assay Master of Edinburgh Assay Office, said, “The addition of a diamond certification service as part of Hallmarking in Transit, provided by SGL, offers a practical and cost effective one-stop solution for UK and Europe bound goods.
“This further simplifies the logistics process for importers and provides the flexibility to source product from multiple locations whilst retaining a single logistically efficient route to market.”
The process starts with the product being carried to Heathrow by Malca Amit and then tested and hallmarked by the Edinburgh Assay Office while in transit.
The option now exists to have diamond set product certified by SGL on site, prior to final onward delivery.
Finally, the product can be delivered to any UK or international location via Malca Amit.
There is also an option to bring the product to Heathrow under a temporary import scheme operated by Malca Amit where import tax can be deferred until the shipment reaches its final destination.
Chirag Soni, Director, SGL said, “This one-stop solution offers jewellery companies in the UK and Europe the benefit of internationally recognised hallmark diamond certification and integrated import transit services in a single logistically strategic facility. These services would otherwise have to be carried out separately.
The development of this solution has so far been received very positively.”
Joel Sturfer of UJT Ltd. is an early adopter of the service and said, “In the UK, the challenge of dealing with separate institutions for hallmarking, logistics and certification has made it difficult to create an effective supply chain that helps serve multiple retailers.
“The answer is to carry out hallmarking and certification in a single location as part of the import process, thereby also making savings. We are now able to serve our clients across the UK in a much more effective manner without expending unnecessary time and money on complex logistics routines.”
For more details contact: [email protected]
