Britain's leading manufacturer of fine cutlery and silverware yesterday claimed a new European law that will scrap hallmarking will be a disaster for consumer confidence.
John Price, chairman of Lichfield-based Arthur Price of England, said the proposed EU Precious Metals Directive will undermine quality silver and gold makers.
His comments came after it was revealed in The Birmingham Post that the West Midland's £1 billion- a- year jewellery industry had just three weeks to save itself in a bitter battle in Brussels.
Mr Price, former president of the British Cutlery and Silverware Association, said: "The Assay mark is the ultimate protection for consumers - without it they have no way of knowing what they are really buying.
"To remove this fingerprint of quality exposes consumers to being ripped off, and retailers to losing respect and credibility with their customers."
The Precious Metals Directive had been shelved for more than a decade, but under the presidency of the EU by the Italians - the Continent's largest jewellery manufacturers - it was reinstated.
The original directive maintained that the variations in testing and marking items of gold, silver and platinum from country to country distorted European trade laws.
It claimed that the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, France and Spain should relax their tradition of compulsory third party testing in favour of a Europe-wide option of self-marking.
Mr Price - whose company bears the Royal Warrant of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales - added that while Trading Standards are not currently involved with precious metals, if independent hallmarking is abolished it would have to be called in.
He warned that local authorities would be unlikely to be able to cope, even if the number of Trading Standards officials were greatly increased.
"Speaking as a manufacturer, we value the protection that the Assay Office affords us," he said.
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