Dealers Notices

One of the requirements of the Hallmarking Act 1973 is that all dealers supplying precious metal jewellery shall display a notice explaining the approved hallmarks.

This must be the notice produced by the British Hallmarking Council, as shown below.

Dealers Notices are available from The Birmingham Assay Office at a cost of £10.00
each including VAT + prevailing postage costs.

Please agree to the terms below before downloading the Dealer Notice PDF.

NEW DEALERS NOTICE NOW AVAILABLE;
COMPULSORY FROM 1ST JANUARY 2011

 The Hallmarking Act 1973 created a legal requirement for Dealers’ Notices. The Notice has been redesigned to incorporate Palladium and the revised version will be the only legally recognised notice as of 1st January 2011. Full information is detailed below.

1. Legal Requirement

Section 11 of the Hallmarking Act 1973 requires:
11.— 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.

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

The new Dealers’ Notice has been designed to bring the importance of hallmarking to consumers’ attention and to be sure they benefit from the protection it offers them at the point of sale.
The new Notice therefore 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 £10, 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 will also be available electronically as a pdf file on the websites of the four Assay Offices, the British Hallmarking Council and Trading Standards (yet to be approved).
The Notice can then be downloaded FREE for use on websites, or printed out for subsequent display in store.

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 300 dpi)
• Must be printed in its entirety with no amendments, additions or deletions
• Must be printed minimum A4 size, (210mm x 297mm portrait) but could be larger     if required

If you have any queries regarding Dealers’ Notices please contact one of the four UK Assay Offices.

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