Hallmarking (amendment) act 2019

• Act Number: 2
• Enactment Date: 14 February 2019

Number 2 of 2019
Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019
CONTENTS
1. Definitions
2. Amendment of section 1 of Principal Act
3. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act
4. Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act
5. Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act
6. Amendment of Principal Act
7. Amendment of section 5 of Principal Act
8. Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act
9. Amendment of Principal Act
10. Amendment of section 8 of Principal Act
11. Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act
12. Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act
13. Forged hallmarks
14. Offences by body corporate
15. Charges by Company
16. Repeals
17. Short title and commencement
Acts Referred to
Companies Act 2014 (No. 38)
Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (No. 29)
Consumer Protection Act 2007 (No. 19)
Hallmarking Act 1981 (No. 18)
Plate Assay (Ireland) Act 1807 (47 Geo. 3) c. 15
Number 2 of 2019
Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019
An Act to amend and extend the law relating to the assaying and hallmarking of articles of precious metal; to make provision for the assaying and hallmarking in certain circumstances of articles of precious metal outside the State; and, for those purposes, to amend the Hallmarking Act 1981 ; and to provide for related matters.
[14th February , 2019]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
		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.
	(2) The Company shall give to the Minister such information as the Minister may reasonably require for the purposes of determining whether to give his or her consent under subsection (1), including information relating to—
	(a) the staffing or other resources that would ordinarily be required by an assay office for the performance of functions in relation to the assaying and hallmarking of articles of precious metal outside the State in accordance with the requirements of this Act,
	(b) the corporate governance, administration and management of the assay office proposed to be established,
	(c) the terms and conditions of employment of members of staff to be employed in the assay office, and
	(d) the costs likely to be incurred in establishing the assay office.
	(3) An assay office established under subsection (1) shall not strike or otherwise apply an offshore hallmark to an article of precious metal submitted to it for hallmarking unless it is satisfied that the article conforms 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.
	(2) The Company shall not enter into an agreement referred to in subsection (1) with an assay office unless the office concerned is an assay office of a Contracting State to the Convention on the Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals done at Vienna on 15 November 1972.
	(3) The Company shall give to the Minister such information as the Minister may reasonably require for the purposes of determining whether to give his or her consent under subsection (1), including information relating to—
	(a) the corporate governance, administration and management of the assay office with whom it is proposed to enter into an agreement,
	(b) the terms and conditions on which it is proposed to enter into an agreement with that assay office, including terms and conditions of a financial nature, and
	(c) the charges to be imposed in respect of the assaying and hallmarking of articles of precious metal by that assay office on behalf of the Company.
	(4) It shall be a condition of an agreement referred to in subsection (1) that the authorised assay office concerned shall not strike or otherwise apply an offshore hallmark to an article of precious metal submitted to it for hallmarking on behalf of the Company unless that assay office is satisfied that the article conforms 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.
	(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Company may, for the purposes of section 4A or 4B, by writing under its common seal, authorise any person as being a person entitled to bind the Company.
	(3) An authorisation under this section may—
	(a) relate to a particular transaction or class of transactions,
	(b) be subject to such terms and conditions (including duration of period of authorisation) as shall be specified in the authorisation, and
	(c) be revoked in writing under the common seal of the Company.
	(4) A reference in this section to a person’s entitlement to bind the Company shall, subject to the terms of his or her authorisation, include a reference to his or her authority to exercise any power of the Company and to authorise others to do so.
	(5) The Company may have for use in any place abroad an official seal which shall resemble the common seal of the Company with the addition on its face of the name of every place abroad where it is to be used.
	(6) Subsections (3) to (6) of section 44 of the Companies Act 2014 shall apply with any necessary modifications to the Company as if it were a company authorised by its constitution to have for use in any place abroad an official seal.
	(7) In this section—
	‘official seal’, in relation to the Company, means the official seal referred to in subsection (5);
	‘place abroad’ means any territory, district or place not situate in the State.”.
		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...