Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Regulations, 2004

L.N. 147 of 2004

GOLDSMITHS AND SILVERSMITHS ACT

(CAP. 46)

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Regulations, 2004

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 18 of the

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Act, hereinafter referred to as “the Act”,

the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has made the following

regulations>-

(1) These regulations may be cited as the Goldsmiths and

Silversmiths Regulations, 2004.

(2) These regulations shall be deemed to have come into

force on the 1st April, 2004.

(1) A precious metal alloy in a precious metal article must

have a standard at least equal to the standard imprinted on the said

alloy.

(2) Precious metals in a precious metal article must be

soldered using an alloy of the same standard of fineness and of the

same precious metal as the rest of the articles except when this is

not technically possible, in which case soldering can be carried out

using an alloy of a lower standard of fineness or another material.

(3) No solder may be used in a quantity that is greater

than the necessary for joining and in no case shall solder be used for

strengthening, weighting, filling or otherwise.

(4) In the case of filigree, small links and other similar

minute works, the standard of fineness may, taking the solder into

account, reach a margin inferior to the imprinted standard by not

more than ten millesims.

Without prejudice to any of the provisions of the Act a

precious metal article weighing more than one gram may not be

placed on the market without a manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark

or an office hallmark.

(1) Office hallmarks, manufacturers’ and sponsors’ marks Characteristics

of marks and

or hallmarks must be visible, legible and durable.

hallmarks.

(2) The minimum nominal standards for precious metal

articles shall be equal to those given in Schedule I.

(3) An office hallmark shall comprise marks and

characteristics that identify the body applying it.

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press

(1) Any person assigned a manufacturer’s mark Characteristics

of manufacturer’s

authorised by the Consul may utilise his mark as a sponsor mark or sponsor’s

and likewise any person using a sponsor’s mark authorised by the marks authorised

by the Consul.

Consul may utilise this mark as a manufacturer’s mark.

(2) Manufacturers’ and sponsors’ marks authorised by

the Consul shall correspond with those recorded in the appropriate

Consul’s register referred to in regulation 20 hereof and physically

imprinted in accordance with regulation 21.

Without prejudice to any other regulation, manufacturers’ Characteristics of

manufacturers’ or

and sponsors’ hallmarks authorized by the Consul, shall exclusively sponsors’

consist of a manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark as provided in hallmarks

authorised by

regulation 5 hereof and a standard mark that shall -

the Consul.

(a)

be a finesse mark<

(b) correspond to one of the nominal standards set out in

Schedule II<

(c) have a separate surround that is specific to gold, silver,

platinum and palladium respectively as indicated in Schedule

III<

(d) be imprinted so as to be immediately preceded by

the imprint of the appropriate manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark.

(1) The manufacturer’s mark and the fineness mark in Application

of mark

the manufacturer’s hallmark authorised by the Consul shall both be and hallmark

imprinted by the manufacturer and the sponsor’s mark and the authorised

the Consul.

fineness mark in the sponsor’s hallmark authorised by the Consul

shall likewise be both imprinted by the sponsor.

(2) No manufacturer or sponsor authorised by the Consul

to imprint the manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark may imprint the

fineness mark referred to in Schedules II and III without preceding

their imprint by the imprint of the respective manufacturer’s or

sponsor’s mark authorised by the Consul.

(3) No person may imprint a precious metal article with

the manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark or hallmark authorised by the

Consul if such a precious metal article is already imprinted with

either –

(a) a manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark or an office

hallmark<

(b) a standard or standard mark that differs from the

standard expressed in the hallmark that the person may intend

to imprint on the article<

(c)

any mark or imprint that is in contravention of the

Act.

(1) The Consul’s office hallmark shall only be applicable

to gold and silver articles.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision in these

regulations the Consul’s office hallmark for gold and silver articles

shall be as follows>-

(a) in the case of gold articles having a standard of

fineness of 916 or 750, the said hallmark shall consist in the

impression of the mural crown with sally port embattlements

turreted by eight octagonal turrets, and for gold articles having

a standard of fineness of 585 or 375, said hallmark shall consist

of the impression of the shield of Malta< these impressions shall

moreover be immediately followed by adjacent numerals

representing that appropriate standard of fineness of the gold

alloy<

(b) the imprint for silver articles shall be the impression

of a Maltese cross immediately followed by an adjacent number

959, 925, 830 or 800 as the case may be representing the

standard of fineness of the silver alloy<

(c) a mark indicating the period of the imprinting of the

gold or silver article may also be affixed. This imprint may

bear such combination of two letters of the alphabet in small

cursive script as may from time to time be determined by the

Consul<

(d) the impression referred to in subparagraphs (a) and

(b) hereof shall be as given in Schedule IV.

(1) Only manufacturers or sponsors in possession of a Presentation

manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark or their respective delegated to

Consul for

representatives may present precious metal articles to the Consul imprinting.

for imprinting.

(2) Unless the manufacturers’ or sponsors’ marks referred

to in subregulation (1) hereof are authorised by the Consul,

documentary evidence shall be furnished indicating due

authorization.

(3) Only precious metal articles shall be accepted by the

Consul for imprinting with the Consul’s Office hallmark.

(4) No precious metal article shall be accepted for

imprinting by the Consul if –

(a) it is already marked in accordance with the marks

indicated in subarticle (iii) of article 4 of the Act<

(b) it is exempted from imprinting under the provisions

of article 5 of the Act<

(c) it does not bear the manufacturer’s or the sponsor’s

mark of the manufacturer or sponsor submitting the articles<

(d) the said articles bear a standard mark that differs from

the standard as indicated in Form “S” referred to in Schedule V

hereof or from the prescribed standards of the Consul’s office

hallmark<

(e) it is in any way in contravention of any of the

provisions of the Act.

(5) A manufacturer or sponsor may for the purpose of

this regulation delegates in writing a person approved by the Consul,

to attend on the Consul, provided also that the Consul does not require

the personal attendance of the manufacturer or sponsor.

(6) The person submitting precious metal articles to the

Consul for imprinting shall at the same time submit in duplicate a

ticket in the form set out in aforementioned Form “S” in Schedule V

signed by the manufacturer or the sponsor and where appropriate by

their respective representatives. This form shall contain a declaration

by the manufacturer or sponsor submitting the precious metal article

in which the said manufacturer or sponsor assumes responsibility

for the homogeneity of the precious metal articles.

(7) The Consul may, in writing and subject to any such

limitation as he may think fit, delegate any of the duties referred to

in this regulation to any officer serving in the Consul’s office.

(8) The Consul or any public officer whom he delegates,

on receiving the articles in accordance with subregulation (6) hereof,

shall verify their weight and number, shall append his signature to

the tickets and shall deliver one copy to the person presenting said

articles.

(1) The Consul shall carry out as many assays as he

deems necessary for the purpose of ascertaining the standard of the

precious metal articles presented for imprinting.

(2) The Consul may at his discretion extract from one

or more parts of any article or any group of articles presented for

imprinting any such quantity of metal as is required and should take

care to cause least the possible damage by the said extraction.

(3) The Consul shall extract samples for assaying either

by a random selection of one or more specific articles or by a process

of extraction of small quantities of metal from several articles as he

deems appropriate.

(4) The Consul shall return the article in the state it is

found after the assay. No compensation will be due for any damage

resulting from the extraction of the sample in accordance with the

provisions of this legislation.

(1) The assay of gold alloys shall be carried out by the

cupellation process and the assay of silver alloys shall be carried

out by a chemical process.

(2) In cases where the Consul deems that it is not

technically possible to extract sufficient sample to carry out an assay,

testing of precious metal articles or groups thereof, shall be made

by the use of the touchstone and gold or silver points of standard

known to the Consul.

(1) The Consul shall keep a register in which he shall

enter the relevant particulars stated in the Form S in Schedule V

presented with the article to be imprinted. When the assay is

completed, the Consul shall register his declaration of this result

and the date of such declaration.

(2) The Consul’s entries referred to in subregulation (1)

hereof shall not be accessible to the public.

(3) The Consul shall be responsible for damages if it

shall be proved that articles imprinted by him are found to be inferior

by more than three millesims, to the standard of fineness required

for the imprinting in accordance with regulation 2.

(1) The result of the assay carried out by the Consul on Application of

the Consul’s

a precious metal article or on a group of such articles carried out in assay result.

accordance with these regulations shall be considered as applicable

to all the items referred to in Form S in Schedule V to these

regulations.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (4) of

regulation 2 hereof>-

(a) the Consul shall imprint an article with a fineness

mark equal to or immediately inferior to the standard found as

a result of the assay<

(b) precious metal articles found to be inferior in standard

to the lowest standard prescribed for the Consul’s office

hallmark shall be destroyed<

(c) precious metal articles imprinted with a standard mark

before being submitted to the Consul and found by the Consul

to be inferior to the said standard, shall be destroyed<

(d) the imprinting of a precious metal article with a

standard inferior to that claimed in Form S of Schedule V or

the breaking up of said article shall not take place prior to the

lapse of ten working days from the date on which the declaration

of the Consul to such effect shall be communicated to the

manufacturer or sponsor or their authorized representatives as

the case may be<

(e) the provisions referred to in paragraph (d) hereof may

be put into effect before the lapse of such ten working days

provided the manufacturer or sponsor or their authorised

representative so agrees.

(1) If the manufacturer or the sponsor or the authorised

representative, as the case may be, is not satisfied with the Consul’s

decision that the submitted precious metal article is inferior in

standard either to -

(a)

the standard claimed in Form S of Schedule V< or

(b) any of the standards prescribed for the Consul’s office

hallmark< or

(c) any standard that may be imprinted on the said article

prior to submission to the Consul for imprinting,

he may, within not more than seven days from the day on which the

decision of the Consul is communicated to him, request the Minister

responsible for finance for the carrying out of a second assay

provided he deposits in the office of the Consul one hundred Maltese

liri.

(2) When a request and deposit for a second assay is

made, the Minister shall direct the Consul to further suspend the

imprinting or breaking of any article as the case may be until the

lapse of eight days, from the date on which the result of the second

assay has been communicated to the person who shall have asked

for the second assay.

(3) The second assay shall be carried out in the presence

of the person applying for it, if he so requires, and it shall be

conducted by a Board made up of a professor of Chemistry in the

University of Malta or some other expert designated by the Minister

responsible for Finance, in either case assisted by the Consul and by

an experienced artificer also appointed by the Minister responsible

for Finance.

(4) The result of the second assay shall be entered in the

Consul’s register and shall be signed by all the members of the Board

and by the Consul.

(5) When the result of the second assay which is carried

out by the Board in accordance with subregulation (3) hereof shows

that the Consul’s assay result was erroneous, the Minister responsible

for Finance shall direct the Consul to reimburse the deposit of Lm100

indicated in subregulation (1) hereof and shall furthermore direct

the Consul to proceed with the imprinting of the said article in

accordance with the result of the second assay.

The result of the second assay carried out in accordance Judicial

contestation of

with the provisions of these regulations shall be final unless such a the second

result is challenged by a writ of summons before the competent Court assay.

within eight days from the date on which the result of the second

assay shall have been communicated to the person asking for such a

second assay, in which case the Minister responsible for Finance

shall again direct the Consul to suspend the imprinting or the breaking

of the article as the case may be until the Court judgement on such a

challenge becomes final.

When criminal proceedings are instituted against a Criminal

manufacturer or sponsor in accordance with article 12 of the Act, proceedings

in accordance

the breaking up of the article found to conceal extraneous substances with article

12 of the Act.

or not found to be of a homogenous substance shall not take place

before the judgement of the Court in such proceedings has become

final.

The imprinting of the Consul’s Office Hallmark shall be Tariff of

the Consul’s

subject to the fees given in Schedule VIII hereof.

Office Hallmark.

(1) The Consul shall assign a manufacturer’s or Authorisation of

sponsor’s mark to any citizen of Malta or of a Member State of manufacturer’s

sponsor’s

European Union provided that such a person>-

mark by the

Consul.

(a)

submits a written application for such a mark<

(b) is eighteen years old, of good conduct and can read

and write<

(c) satisfies the Consul that he has knowledge of the

alloying of metal<

(d) passes any interviews and or test and furnishes any

qualifications that the Consul may deem necessary in order to

establish the requirements of paragraph (c) hereof<

(e) furnishes the address of the location where he intends

to manufacture or imprint precious metal articles and undertakes

to inform the Consul in writing of any changes in the

aforementioned location<

(f) furnish any documents or information as may be

required for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The assignment of an authorised manufacturer’s or

sponsor’s mark by the Consul shall>-

(a) not authorise the manufacturer or sponsor to imprint

the manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark<

(b)

not be subject to any fee<

(c) be without prejudice to any manufacturing,

sponsoring or patenting legislation.

(1) The Consul shall authorise any person to imprint the

manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark provided that such a person>

(a)

submits a written application for such authorisation<

(b) is in possession of a manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark

assigned by the Consul as provided in regulation 18 hereof<

(c) signs a declaration stating that he is aware of his

responsibility under the Act<

(d) declares, where applicable, the location where

manufacturing, imprinting and storage of hallmarked items is

to take place and undertakes to inform the Consul in writing of

any changes in these locations<

(e) furnishes any documents or information as may be

required for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The Consul’s authorisation for the imprinting of a

manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark shall>-

(a)

be subject to a fee as per Schedule VIII hereof<

(b) be without prejudice to any manufacturing,

sponsoring or patenting legislation<

(c) be without prejudice to the manufacturer’s or

sponsor’s right to submit his product to the Consul for

imprinting with the Consul Office Hallmark in accordance with

the provisions of this Act.

(3) Authorisation for the imprinting of the manufacturer’s

or sponsor’s hallmark may be suspended pending the competent

Court decision should the Consul determine that the manufacturer

or sponsor concerned is in breach of any of the provision of the Act.

Furthermore, should the competent Court awards against the

manufacturer or sponsor concerned, the Consul may further

permanently revoke the said authorisation or suspend it for a period

of not less than three months as from the date of the Court’s decision.

The Consul shall keep a register which shall contain>-

Registration

of mark and

hallmark

(a) an exact description of the form and content of the

authorised

by the

manufacturer’s and sponsor’s mark authorised and assigned by

Consul.

the Consul<

(b) the particulars of the person authorised to use the

marks referred to in paragraph (a) above and the date of such

authorisation<

(c) where applicable, an indication that the registered

person in paragraphs (a) and (b) hereof is further authorised to

use a manufacturer’s or sponsor’s hallmark authorised by the

Consul, the date of such authorisation and its current status.

No person may make use of any imprinting tools that apply First

an imprint of the manufacturer’s or sponsor’s mark authorised by impression

of certain

the Consul before physically depositing the first impression of this marking

tool on an appropriate metal plate held in the custody of the Consul. tools.

Manufacturers’ marks assigned by the Consul in Authorisation of

accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance as in force before marks

previously

the coming into force of the Act shall be deemed to be manufacturers’ assigned

or sponsors’ marks authorised by the Consul and subject to the same by the Consul.

provisions of the Act provided that their imprint is deposited with

the Consul on or after the coming into force of the Act and provided

also that this imprint and use thereof is in conformity with all the

provisions of the Act.

(1) The Consul shall not collect any articles during the Collection

course of an inspection unless accompanied by a witnessing officer. procedure

in Consul’s

inspection.

(2) The witnessing officer referred to in subregulation

(1) hereof shall be any person authorised by the Consul for this

purpose.

(3) Prior to collection of any items during an inspection,

the Consul must compile Form C set out in Schedule VI. Such a

form shall be completed in duplicate and a copy thereof shall be

handed over to the custodian of the collected articles at the locality

of collection and the original form shall be retained by the Consul.

(1) The Consul shall examine the collected articles in

order to determine compliance with the Act. This examination may

include the extraction of a sample or samples for the carrying out of

any assay by the Consul, which extraction may result in the partial

or complete destruction of the collected items under examination.

(2) The Consul shall keep a register showing a record of

all articles collected during inspection and a signed statement

indicating the compliance or non-compliance of such collection with

the provisions of the Act. In cases where the Consul determines that

the aforementioned items are not in compliance with the provisions

of the Act, the Consul shall enter the reason for this non-compliance.

(3) Articles referred to in subregulation (1) hereof that

have been found by the Consul to be in compliance with the Act

shall be returned to their custodian or owner in the state in which

they have been found after any assay that may have been carried

out.

(4) Articles referred to in subregulation (1) above found

by the Consul not to be in compliance with this Act, shall be delivered

to the Commissioner of Police in the state in which they have been

found after the examinations referred to in subregulation (1) hereof

together with a report indicating any reason for the aforementioned

non-compliance.

(1) The Minister responsible for Finance shall from time

to time fix, by notice published in the Gazette, the official prices of

gold and silver.

(2) The prices referred to in subregulation (1) hereof shall

be based on the International Middle Closing Price as prevailing on

the day previous to the fixing.

(1) The Consul shall value gold or silver precious metal

articles and shall base the valuation on the price of gold and silver

referred to in regulation 25 hereof.

(2) The Consul shall value approximately gold or silver

precious metal articles containing diamonds or other precious stones

and shall base his valuation on the price of gold and silver referred

to in regulation 26 hereof and on the market price prevailing on the

date of the valuation.

(3) Before making any valuation the Consul shall weigh

the precious metal article and test the fineness of the metal. If any

gold or silver articles presented for valuation contain or are attached

to stones and other materials which cannot be detached without

considerable damage the Consul may calculate the approximate

weight of precious metal and issue an approximate valuation.

(4) When a precious metal article has been valued the

Consul shall issue, from a counterfoil book, a ticket in the form set

out in Schedule VII, which ticket may contain any further particulars

that the Consul may consider necessary for the purposes of the

valuation.

(5) The Consul shall be responsible for the accuracy of

the weight and value stated in the ticket referred to in subregulation

(4) hereof.

(6) The Consul’s valuation shall be subject to the fee

indicated in Schedule VIII.

The Office Hours of Public Appraiser Regulations, 1927 Repeals G.N. 251

of 1927,

the Stamping of Gold and Silver Articles Regulations, 1968, the G.N. 646 of 1968,

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Regulations, 1968, the Tolerance for L.N. 75 of 1968,

L.N. 147 of 1976,

the Use of Solder Regulations, 1976, the marking of Gold and Silver L.N. 145 of 1990

Articles Exemption Order, 1990 and the Marking of Silver Articles and

L.N. 232 of 2001.

Exemption Order, 2001, are hereby repealed.

Paragraphs 1 to 3 of the Item “Office of the Consul for Amends G.N.

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths” in the Fees leviable by Government 338 of 1925.

Departments Regulations, are hereby deleted.

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

SCHEDULE 3