Platinum, gold, silver and palladium.

Draft of the Act setting out rules on the assaying of precious metal objects (Assay Act 20.. [Waarborgwet 20..])

In the Netherlands, gold, silver and platinum objects fitted with a hallmark issued by a designated assay office that guarantees the fineness of the precious metal in question. This enables consumers to trust that an object is actually made from a particular precious metal and that this precious metal has a particular fineness. The assay requirement and the associated rules and assay bodies (the designated assay offices) are set out in the Assay Act 1986. This bill would replace the Assay Act 1986. This bill proposes several amendments to the contents of the Assay Act 1986, and applies technical updates. The main changes to the contents involve introduction of the requirement that an assay body be accredited, expansion of the permitted techniques for applying a mark or symbol and introduction of new powers for supervisory authorities.

The Assay Act 1986 was previously notified in 1997 (1997/417/NL). With respect to the prior notification, the following articles are new or have amended contents: Articles 4(3, 11, 12 and 13), 7a, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 32(2), 38 and 39. We cannot rule out the possibility that these new provisions may include technical regulations. Some examples here may be Articles 7a (lowest permissible fineness that can be guaranteed for a platinum object), 12(1) (new options for applying marks), 15 (calculation of fineness) and 32(2) (public notification method).