Hallmarking
Members Required for The British Hallmarking Council Protecting consumers, upholding standards
The Secretary of State now seeks applications for four members to serve for a term of three years, starting from 1 January 2013. There are two vacancies for members with experience in the precious metal trade or manufacturing, either from the bespoke or mass produced jewellery market or from retailing, and two for persons either with consumer expertise, or independents with relevant experience. The closing date for applications is Monday 25 June 2012. Download and read the full advert.. (PDF, 368 Kb)
Download the application form and recruitment pack (DOC, 1.0 Mb)
Access a Guide to making a complaint about a public appointments process
Hallmarking involves the independent testing and marking of articles of precious metal to indicate they conform to legal standards of purity (fineness). These tests are carried out in the UK by assay offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh.
The hallmarking act 1973 makes it an offence for anyone in the course of business to sell or describe a precious metal article as gold, silver or platinum unless it is hallmarked, subject to certain exemptions including articles below statutorily prescribed weights. The act is enforced by local trading standards departments. It was amended in January 1999 to bring it into line with European law.
The UK is a member of the convention on the control and marking of articles of precious metals (hallmarking convention), which facilitates the cross border trade of independently marked precious metal articles. The UK recognises the convention common control mark (CCM) applied in member countries, which means that goods marked with the CCM can be imported and sold in the UK without the need for additional UK hallmarking.
The UK also recognises independent hallmarks struck in EU member states to equivalent UK standards in line with the European court of justice houtwipper judgement.
In January 2012 NMO consulted on proposals to amend the Hallmarking Act 1973 so as to enable offshore hallmarking by the UK Assay Offices. The consultation ended on 2 April 2012 and we are in the process of preparing the Government response to the consultation.
In the meantime, please download guidance to the proposed Order (PDF, 114 Kb) .
