DEALERS TO EXHIBIT NOTICES AS TO HALLMARKS
1. Legal Requirement
Section 11 of the Hallmarking Act 1973 requires:Dealers to exhibit notices as to hallmarks.
(1) Any dealer shall keep exhibited at all times, in a conspicuous position in a part of his premises to which those with whom he deals are commonly admitted, a notice in terms approved and in a form supplied by the Council describing such approved hallmarks and including such explanatory matter as the Council think fit; and it shall be an offence for any dealer to fail to exhibit or keep exhibited a notice required to be exhibited under this subsection.
(2) The Council may make a reasonable charge for the supply of any copy of a notice required to be exhibited under this section.Notice from January 2010
2. Notice from January 2010
The 2009 amendment to the Hallmarking Act requiring all articles sold or described as Palladium to have a statutory hallmark as of 1st January 2010 has created the need for a new version of the Dealers' Notice to be produced.
After a 12 month period of grace this will become the only acceptable version as of 1st January 2011. This therefore replaces the previous version, last amended in 1998.
3. The New Notice
Under the Hallmarking Act 1973, every person "dealing" in precious metal is legally required to display the statutory Dealers Notice and this has now been redesigned to include Palladium.
A new statutory "Dealers Notice" which all those dealing in precious metals are legally required to display is available from the Assay Offices from January 2010, clearly showing both versions of the Palladium mark.
The new version is available as a free download from any of the Assay Office websites, and high quality printed versions are also available. For those requiring large quantities of notices the artwork is available for retailers to produce their own signs.
Dealers have twelve months to change to the new Notice, which becomes compulsory from 1st January 2011.
The new Notice features strongly an image of a hallmark including the three compulsory symbols. In recognition of the regional and national bias of some jewellery and precious metal articles and retailers, which is integral to their branding, the new Notice will appear in four different versions, according to whether a mark from Birmingham, Edinburgh, London or Sheffield is deemed more appropriate.
4. Availability
The Dealers Notice will be available via three different routes:
a) Hard Copy
As previously, high quality hard copies of Dealers Notices will be available from the Assay Offices. A standard non negotiable charge of £15 including VAT at the prevailing rate will be made for each Notice. Postage will be charged at cost.
b) Electronic pdf file
The new Notice is also be available electronically as a pdf file on the websites of the four Assay Offices, the British Hallmarking Council and Trading Standards
The Notice can then be downloaded FREE for use on websites, or printed out for subsequent display in store.
Click here to download the new Dealers Notice
c) High resolution artwork
High resolution artwork will be available electronically from each Assay Office, allowing retailers to print their own hard copies using a professional printer. Reproduction of the electronic versions must meet the following criteria.
The Dealers Notice:
Must be printed in black and white
Must be clearly legible (minimum dpi to be stipulated)
Must be printed in its entirety with no amendments, additions or deletions
Must be printed a minimum A4 size (210 x 297mm) portrait but can be larger if required
Click here to download a copy of the Hallmarking Act 1973