Statutory Instruments

1986 No. 1757

HALLMARK

The Hallmarking (Approved Hallmarks) Regulations 1986

Made

9th October 1986

Laid before Parliament

15th October 1986

Coming into Operation

10th November 1986

The Secretary of State, after consulting in accordance with section 4(7) of the Hallmarking Act 1973 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), in exercise of his powers under sections 4(7) and 21(1) of the Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Hallmarking (Approved Hallmarks) Regulations 1986 and shall come into operation on 10th November 1986.

2. Section 4 of the Act shall be amended as follows:—

(a)after subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(1A) The approved hallmark mentioned in subsection(1)(a)(iii) above may be omitted by an assay office as respects any article of a weight less than 4 grams, but any such omission shall not in itself render the article unhallmarked for the purposes of this Act.”;

(b)in paragraph (a) of subsection (3), after the word “solder”, there shall be inserted the words “or adhesive”;

(c)in proviso (c) to paragraph (b) of subsection (3), for “750” there shall be substituted the words “not less than 585 and not more than 750”; and

(d)in paragraph (c) of subsection (3), after the words “fineness of the article” there shall be inserted the words “or adhesive”.

3. Schedule 2 to the Act shall be amended as follows:—

(a)in paragraph 4 after sub-paragraph (b), there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph:—

“(bb)where platinum parts exceed 50 per cent. by weight of a whole article, which also contains gold parts of a standard of fineness not less than 750 and where the gold parts are clearly distinguishable in colour from the platinum parts, the platinum parts shall be hallmarked as if they comprised a separate article and the gold parts shall, if it is practicable to strike a mark, be struck with the standard mark for gold only;”;

(b)in paragraph 4(c), for the words “shall be struck only with the standard mark” there shall be substituted the words “shall, if it is practicable to strike a mark, be struck with the standard mark only”; and

(c)in paragraph 6(b)(i), after the word “visible”, there shall be added the words “and the precious metal part is of a thickness of not less than 100 micrometres”.

Lucas of Chilworth

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

Department of Trade and Industry

9th October 1986

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend section 4 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Hallmarking Act 1973, which are principally concerned with the conditions under which articles of precious metals may be struck with approved hallmarks. The Regulations allow assay offices to omit, for practical reasons, the date letter from very small articles; permit the use of adhesives, as an alternative to solder, to join the parts of precious metal articles; and permit the use of solder in a wider range of white gold articles. Provision is also made to allow the hallmarking of articles made of platinum and gold, where the platinum is predominant by weight; to allow assay offices to omit the standard mark from any small working parts of an article where it is impracticable to strike a mark; and to require, in certain cases, the precious metal parts of articles consisting of precious metal and other materials to be of a thickness of at least 100 micrometres.