Guess what - another hallmarking question

[ajda]

If I make a custom piece to be sent by post direct to the USA, am I right in thinking that assaying/hallmarking are not required by law? It may be that the customer wants the hallmark as a guarantee of purity and/or a decorative feature, but I'd like to be clear about the possible options they have while keeping myself on the legal straight and narrow.
Alan

[DaveM/LAO]

Hi Alan,
you are correct if an article is being sold offshore UK hallmarking legislation is not a requirement

[pearlescence]

Is that all exports ..or are EU exports different, since to comply with free movement goods must be legal for sale in the country of manufacture. Once they are legal in original EU country they must be allowed to circulate throughout the EU without quantitative ( no barriers by numbers allowed) or qualitative (not allowed to say only certain standard such as 10.2ct gold allowed in our country) hindrance.Therefore exports to any other member state would have to be marked as that is required in the UK. Conversely, and I had discussions with Steve on this, imports from other member states which comply with laws in those countries should not be required to be assayed. That would be a qualitative hindrance since the original MS does not require marking

[Gemsetterchris]

If you look up hallmark on wickpedia it'll explain all that.
The Vienna convention has something to do with it & it also says US items should have a fineness mark even though they don't have hallmarking as such.

[ajda]

Hi Alan,
you are correct if an article is being sold offshore UK hallmarking legislation is not a requirement

Thanks, Dave. I thought that was the case, but good to hear it from the leopard's mouth. As it turns out, this customer has decided he wants the hallmark as a decorative feature (perhaps a quaint touch of Britishness), so it'll be coming your way at some point...

If you look up hallmark on wickpedia it'll explain all that.
The Vienna convention has something to do with it & it also says US items should have a fineness mark even though they don't have hallmarking as such.

I know fineness marks are common in the USA, but I can't find anything to suggest that there's any requirement for assaying/marking except with bank bullion ingots - as one site puts it:
On the whole, the best guarantee in the U.S.A. is the trademark of a manufacturer, who is fully responsible before the law. Americans are well known for their common barratry: they are quick to sue if suspect violations of consumer rights and win huge claims. Thus, it may be said that in the U.S.A. it is not the government hallmark, but the threat of legal prosecution, which serves the major protection against unscrupulous sellers.

Is that all exports ..or are EU exports different, since to comply with free movement goods must be legal for sale in the country of manufacture. Once they are legal in original EU country they must be allowed to circulate throughout the EU without quantitative ( no barriers by numbers allowed) or qualitative (not allowed to say only certain standard such as 10.2ct gold allowed in our country) hindrance.Therefore exports to any other member state would have to be marked as that is required in the UK. Conversely, and I had discussions with Steve on this, imports from other member states which comply with laws in those countries should not be required to be assayed. That would be a qualitative hindrance since the original MS does not require marking

EU rules vs member states' laws... always so clear and simple...

Thanks all three for the input. I think at least it's clear in this case - for European customers, I probably wouldn't offer the option, just go with hallmarking in any case where it's a requirement under UK law.

Alan

[pearlescence]

A fineness mark is meaningless. (and they still use nickel etc too)
The only vienna convention I can find is all about diplomatic relations between states. Nothing to do with the supremacy of EU law.
I rather suspect -as I said to Steve several times - once someone makes a formal complaint to the Commission about the Hallmarking Acts/system here in the UK it will fall under free movement as a qualitative restriction. Unless someone can give me a legally authoritative statement that hallmarking has some sort of exemption.