The Birmingham Assay Office is happy to support the launch of the The Gold Standard from the BJA - The BJA  are very pleased to announce the official industry launch of a new voluntary code of practice to set new standards in the face to face purchase of second hand precious metal and jewellery. The Gold Standard is the result of many months collaborative work with Surrey Police, National Association of Goldsmiths and National Pawnbrokers Association. It also has accreditation from the Association of Chief Police Officers, National Measurement Office and the Trading Standards Institute. The Gold Standard covers 5 main areas:

1. It sets a common standard for the jewellery trade to adopt when currently no guidelines exist.  
2. It will reduce the risk of inadvertently purchasing stolen jewellery and potentially having that property seized by the Police as part of their investigations, or even being prosecuted for the handling of those stolen items.  
3. It will provide the police with evidence of where stolen items of jewellery might be traded.  
4. It will provide the consumer with additional confidence to trade their items of jewellery in your store.  
5. It will improve the provenance of gold going back into the UK supply chain. (where 90% of the gold used the UK jewellery industry is recycled)

The full code is to be found by visiting: www.bja.org.uk/goldstandard [caption id="attachment_866" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="The Birmingham Assay Office is happy to support the launch of the The Gold Standard from the BJA "][/caption] For those of you trading in second hand metals and jewellery, The BJA urge you to sign up to the Gold Standard by going to www.bja.org.uk/goldstandard Here you will find further details on this new initiative and also be able to register your details on line to receive the Gold Standard certificate and logo – which can then be used in store, web site and for all of your promotional material. Additionally, your details will be kept on a separate section of the BJA web site in order that consumers can easily find BJA members who have signed up to the Gold Standard ensuring they can sell their items of jewellery with absolute confidence. There will be a major consumer pr drive to publicise the Gold Standard in mid June.

CATEGORIES