UK Assay Offices release updated Hallmarking Guidance
EDINBURGH, Scotland, July 2016 – The UK Assay Offices have published updated Hallmarking Guidance for the trade which encompasses recent changes to hallmarking legislation as well as important updated guidance from the British Hallmarking Council on how products should be described at point of sale and how the Hallmarking Act applies to internet sales.
The new guidance includes a dedicated section on how precious metals should be described, which is aimed particularly at online jewellery retailers and non-jewellery specific retailers selling jewellery, this incorporates guidance on the use of the terms ‘gold’, ‘silver’, ‘platinum’ and ‘palladium’ when referring to base metals or as a colour description.
The Hallmarking Guidance booklet is a ‘Go To’ guide for jewellery retailers and manufacturers and contains easily accessible, bite-size information from the Hallmarking Act of 1973, covering some of the most commonly queried legal points. The guidance is available from all assay offices.
The guidance was compiled on behalf of all 4 UK Assay Offices and the British Hallmarking Council by the Edinburgh Assay Office.
CEO and Assay Master, Scott Walter, said: “There have been a number of significant changes to the Act since the last guidance was published and an update was necessary. It has also become necessary to reiterate that online retailers have an equal and unequivocal obligation to comply with the Act in the same way bricks-and-mortar retailers always have. In my experience UK jewellery retailers have always prided themselves in their compliance with industry regulations and professional standards. It is something our industry as a whole can be very proud of. The Assay Offices and the BHC are committed to ensuring that those standards of professionalism are maintained across the industry including the emerging jewellery retail market”.
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