Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019

Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2019 Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019 Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 2 of 2019 Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019 CONTENTS

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Section 9

Section 10

Section 11

Section 12

Section 13

Section 14

Section 15

Section 16

Section 17

Definitions 1. In this Act— “Act of 2007” means the Consumer Protection Act 2007 ; “Principal Act” means the Hallmarking Act 1981 .

Amendment of section 1 of Principal Act 2. Section 1 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by the insertion of the following definitions: “ ‘authorised assay office’ means— (a) an assay office situate outside the State established by the Company in accordance with section 4A, or (b) an assay office situate outside the State that is party to an agreement with the Company under section 4B; ‘forged hallmark’ means a hallmark, stamp or other mark struck on or otherwise applied to an article of precious metal that— (a) purports to be— (i) an approved hallmark and is not an approved hallmark, or (ii) a mark referred to in Regulation 3(d) of the Regulations of 2001 and is not such a mark, or (b) falsely represents the standard of fineness of the article of precious metal; ‘multi-metal article’ means an article comprised of 2 separate metals, one of which is precious metal or an alloy of precious metal, and the other of which is non-precious metal; ‘non-precious metal’ means any metal other than— (a) gold, silver, palladium or platinum, or (b) alloys of gold, silver, palladium or platinum; ‘offshore hallmark’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1)(aa); ‘precious metal’ means gold, silver, palladium or platinum; ‘Regulations of 2001’ means the European Communities (Hallmarking of Articles Imported from Other Member States) Regulations 2001 (No. 579 of 2001);”, (b) in the definition of “articles of precious metal”, by the substitution of “a single precious metal or alloy of precious metal or 2 or more separate precious metals or alloys of precious metal” for “gold, silver or platinum or alloys of gold, silver or platinum”, and (c) by the deletion of the definitions of “the Act of 1913” and “forgery”.

Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act 3. Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion, after paragraph (a), of the following paragraph: “(aa) a mark (in this Act referred to as an ‘offshore hallmark’) lawfully struck by or on behalf of the Company in an authorised assay office, in accordance with regulations made under section 3,”.

Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act 4. Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2): “(2) Regulations under this section may prescribe different marks for— (a) a mark referred to in section 2(1)(a), and (b) an offshore hallmark.”.

Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act 5. Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (3), by the substitution of “detect forged hallmarks” for “detect forgery”.

Amendment of Principal Act 6. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 4: “Power to establish assay offices outside State 4A. (1) The Company may, with the consent of the Minister, establish one or more assay offices outside the State for the performance by such office of functions in relation to— (a) the assaying of articles of precious metal manufactured outside the State, and (b) the striking, with an offshore hallmark, of such articles of precious metal which conform to the Irish standards of fineness.

Arrangements with other assay offices 4B. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), the Company may, with the consent of the Minister, enter into an agreement, on such terms and conditions as it considers appropriate, with another assay office situate outside the State for— (a) the assaying, by that office on behalf of the Company, of articles of precious metal manufactured outside the State, and (b) the striking, with an offshore hallmark, by that office on behalf of the Company, of such articles of precious metal which conform to the Irish standards of fineness.

Certain powers of the Company for purposes of sections 4A and 4B 4C. (1) The Company shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions under sections 4A and 4B.

Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act 7. Section 5(1) (amended by section 99 of the Act of 2007) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “gold, silver, palladium or platinum” for “gold, silver or platinum”.

Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act 8. Section 6(2) (amended by section 99 of the Act of 2007) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c): “(c) if it consists of or includes the word ‘silver’, ‘palladium’ or ‘platinum’, that the word concerned is qualified by the word ‘plated’;”.

Amendment of Principal Act 9. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 6A (inserted by section 99 of the Act of 2007): “Multi-metal articles 6B. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the following requirements shall apply to a multi-metal article: (a) both the precious metal, or alloy of precious metal, and non-precious metal of the article shall be clearly visible; (b) the precious metal, or alloy of precious metal, of the article shall be marked with an approved hallmark; (c) the non-precious metal of the article shall be— (i) clearly distinguishable from the precious metal, or alloy of precious metal, of the article by its colour, (ii) neither coated nor treated to give the appearance of a precious metal or alloy of precious metal, and (iii) marked with the word ‘METAL’.

Offence relating to supply of multi-metal articles 6C. (1) It shall be an offence for a trader to supply a multi-metal article that does not comply with the requirements specified in subsection (1) of section 6B.

Amendment of section 8 of Principal Act 10. Section 8 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1): “(1) (a) Every reference to ‘gold or silver’ in an enactment specified in subsection (2) shall be construed as a reference to ‘gold, silver, palladium or platinum’. (b) Every reference to ‘gold and silver’ in an enactment specified in subsection (2) shall be construed as a reference to ‘gold, silver, palladium and platinum’. (c) Every reference to ‘gold’ in an enactment specified in subsection (2) shall be construed as a reference to ‘gold, silver, palladium and platinum’.”, and (b) in subsection (2)— (i) by the substitution, in paragraph (e), of “1883, and” for “1883,”, (ii) by the substitution, in paragraph (f), of “1904.” for “1904,”, and (iii) by the deletion of paragraph (g).

Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act 11. Section 9 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by the substitution, in subsection (1), of “to the Assay Master or an authorised assay office” for “to the Assay Master”, (b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2): “(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Company and a sponsor may make arrangements for the sponsor’s mark to be struck by the Assay Master or an authorised assay office as soon as practicable after the submission of the article for the striking of an approved hallmark.”, and (c) by the substitution, in subsection (3), of “Assay Master or an authorised assay office” for “Assay Master” in each place that it occurs.

Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act 12. Section 12 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (4)— (i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b): “(b) the addition is of the same precious metal or alloy of precious metal, as the case may be, as the precious metal or alloy of precious metal of the article concerned;”, (ii) by the substitution, in paragraph (c), of “prescribed for the time being for the article”, for “for the time being of the article”, and (iii) by the substitution, in paragraph (d)(i), of “silver, 1 gram of palladium” for “silver”, (b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5): “(5) It shall not be an offence under this section to add a coating of a thickness not exceeding 2 micrometres at any point to the whole or any part of— (a) an article of gold, if the coating is of gold of a fineness not less than the Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for the article, (b) an article of silver, if the coating is of silver of a fineness not less than the Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for the article, (c) an article of silver, if the coating is of gold of a fineness not less than the minimum Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for an article of gold, (d) an article of silver, if the coating is of palladium of a fineness not less than the minimum Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for an article of palladium, (e) an article of palladium, if the coating is of palladium of a fineness not less than the Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for the article, (f) an article of palladium, if the coating is of gold of a fineness not less than the minimum Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for an article of gold, (g) an article of platinum, if the coating is of platinum of a fineness not less than the Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for the article, (h) an article of gold, silver or palladium if the coating is of platinum of a fineness not less than the minimum Irish standard of fineness prescribed for the time being for an article of platinum, (i) an article of gold, silver, palladium or platinum, if the coating is of rhodium, or (j) an article of gold, silver, palladium or platinum, if the coating is of ruthenium.”, and (c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (7): “(7) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.”.

Forged hallmarks 13. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 12: “12A. (1) It shall be an offence for a person to— (a) strike a hallmark, stamp or other mark on, or (b) otherwise cause a hallmark, stamp or other mark to be applied to, an article of precious metal where that hallmark, stamp or other mark is a forged hallmark and he or she knows or believes such hallmark, stamp or other mark to be a forged hallmark.

Offences by body corporate 14. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 12A (inserted by section 13 of the Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019): “12B. (1) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance, or was attributable to any wilful neglect, of a person who was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person purporting to act in that capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and may be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

Charges by Company 15. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 14: “14. The Company may, with the approval of the Minister, make such charges in respect of— (a) the assaying and striking, with approved hallmarks, of articles of precious metal submitted for that purpose to the Assay Master, and (b) the assaying and striking, with offshore hallmarks, of articles of precious metal submitted for that purpose to an authorised assay office established by the Company in accordance with section 4A, as it considers appropriate for the purpose of defraying the cost of the provision of that service by the Assay Master or the authorised assay office, as the case may be.”.

Repeals 16. The following provisions are repealed: (a) sections 14 , 15 , 16 and 17 of the Plate Assay (Ireland) Act 1807 ; (b) section 13 of the Principal Act.

Short title and commencement 17. (1) This Act may be cited as the Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019.

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