CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, has released its second commissions' special reports before the opening of the 2014 CIBJO Congress in Moscow on 19 May 2014. The report is prepared by the CIBJO Precious Metals Commission and headed by Michael Allchin. It looks at CIBJO's lobbying efforts in Europe in respect to the pending legislation concerning gold sourcing from conflictareas and a redraft of the EU's nickel regulations.
In the report, Allchin recounted discussions about "the damaging redraft of the Nickel Release Standard EN 1811".He said that there are slight changes to the method for measuring nickel release and a fundamental change to the way of the tests results. In real terms the amount of nickel release allowed in jewellery was substantially lowered, while a "no decision" category simply created unnecessary confusion.
The report also mentions that the CIBJO and Precious Metals Commission presidents have been active in giving trade associations in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland the information at technical level to allow them to vote through and form a working group in the EU to bring necessary changes.
Allchin also detailed trips taken to Brussels, where CIBJO officials explained to the EU Commission why any legally binding legislation in relation to sourcing gold from conflict areas might actually have devastating unintended consequences in those conflict areas, while adding red tape and economic harm to the industry in the European Union.
Currently, the EU is proposing that all refineries must know the source of all the gold they are refining. However such restrictions cannot be imposed on refineries outside the EU where there is no jurisdiction, which will be to the economic detriment of the EU industry.
The 2014 CIBJO Congress will take place from19 to 21May, with pre-congress meetings on 17 and 18May. The congress will be hosted by the Russian Jewellers' Guild, whose headquarters will also serve as the main congress venue.
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