British jewellers campaign against sharing hallmark with India

From Aditi Khanna London, Aug 30 (PTI) Jewellers in Britain have launched acampaign against the use of the country’s famous anchortrademark in India after one of the UK’s metal evaluatorsopened offices in India. Birmingham Assay Office opened a base in Mumbai this yearwhere it uses the anchor as its mark of certification forjewellery and also plans to use the same once it sets up abase in Jaipur. However, some Birmingham-based jewellers launched anonline petition recently on the UK government website,demanding that it not be allowed to use the identical mark. "Hallmarks by assay offices located overseas should notbe identical to UK marks," reads the headline of the petition,which has so far received over 1,500 signatures. If it is able to gather 10,000 signatures by the January26, 2017 deadline, it becomes incumbent upon the government torespond. At 100,000 signatures, it would have to be considered forparliamentary debate in the House of Commons. "In 2013 the four UK Assay Offices were allowed to openup sub-offices in other countries. The intention was that’offshore’ assayed items would carry a different hallmark.Birmingham Assay Office in Mumbai, India, are using Birminghamhallmarks identical to the UK marks. This misleads theconsumer," the petition says. London’s Assay Office uses a leopard’s head, Edinburgh’sa castle and Sheffield’s a rose. The symbols denote the officethat marked the item as a seal of authenticity. The anchor has been used by the Birmingham office since1773 to verify the quality of silver, gold, platinum andpalladium jewellery.  The British Hallmarking Council confirmed the lawallowing assay branches abroad did not state that a differentsymbol must be used. More than 90 per cent of jewellery sold in Britain ismade abroad. Before the opening of the Birmingham office in Mumbai,manufacturers had to ship items to the UK to be hallmarkedthen return them to India to be completed and re-exported. John Langford of London silversmith and jewellersBraybrook & Britten, who launched the petition, told ‘AntiquesTrade GazetteÂ’ that allowing items to be stamped "off shore"in this way would "downgrade" the whole market. "The hallmarking system has guaranteed the integrity ofUK silver over the centuries. What Birmingham Assay Office aredoing is tantamount to flogging off 700 years of history. It’snonsensical and it’s difficult to find anyone who can give youa proper reason why this is happening," he told the weekly artmagazine. "To apply an identical UK hallmark, in another countrywell beyond UK legal jurisdiction and without the addedoversight of such bodies as Trading Standards and the NationalMeasurement & Regulation Office, is to mislead the consumer.It is no longer a UK hallmark," Langford added. However, the Birmingham Assay Office maintains that itshallmark is a "guarantee" of quality anywhere in the world.PTI AK PMS AKJPMS