The British Hallmarking Council has appointed its current Chair. Noel Hunter OBE, to serve for a third three-year term.

Noel has indicated three priorities for his final term of office:

• To improve the protection of UK consumers buying from the internet, where an increasing level of non-compliance has been detected and in doing so to provide a level playing field for the UK jewellery industry.
• To continue to raise the profile of hallmarking with consumers.
• To increase awareness of the protection the hallmark provides.
• To advocate regulatory improvements to protect consumers buying online.

Noel is on record as saying: “Hallmarking has been around for 700 years and provides assurance and protection for consumers when they buy precious metal items. Jewellery is often bought to mark key moments of celebration in people’s lives and without a hallmark, the provenance of products would be impossible to judge. The growth of global trade via the internet has brought with it new risks and challenges, hence my desire to focus our attention on this new frontier in retailing to ensure the consumer is as well protected there as on their local high street.”

Hallmarking is regulated under the Hallmarking Act of 1973 and requires products containing gold, silver, platinum or palladium to be hallmarked by one of the UK’s four Assay Offices. Noel Hunter was first appointed as Chair of the Council in 2017 and has also served as Chair of the Board of CTSI and as a Director of the National Consumer Council and in several other high-profile national roles in the field of consumer protection and regulation.

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