363

363

DECREE

as of 15^th October 2003

pursuant to which The Hallmarking Act is implemented

The Ministry of Industry and Trade lays down under § 54 par. 1 as well as § 54 par. 2 in order to implement § 15 par. 3, § 16 par. 2 and 3, § 19, and § 27 par. 1 letter a) point 3 and letter d) Act No. 539/1992 Coll. on Hallmarking and the Control of Precious Metals (The Hallmarking Act) as amended by Act No. 127/2003 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as "Act"):

Hallmarks

§ 1

The Hallmarks for Gold Goods of Statutory Fineness

(1) The hallmark for the gold goods of fineness 999/1000 (fineness no. 0) is formed by the image of eagle’s head looking to the left in the circle outline; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 0 located in the left bottom part of the hallmark.
(2) The hallmark for the gold goods of fineness 986/1000 (fineness no. 1) is formed by the image of eagle’s head looking to the left in the half-circle outline with cut off corners; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 1 located in the left bottom part of the hallmark.
(3) The hallmark for the gold goods of fineness 900/1000 (fineness no. 2) is formed by the image of eagle’s head looking to the left in the outline of rectangle the lateral lines of which are cambered; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 2 located in the left bottom part of the hallmark.
(4) The hallmark for the gold goods of fineness 750/1000 (fineness no. 3) is formed by the image of cock’s head looking to the left in the outline of the inequilateral pentagon; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 3 located in the right upper part of the hallmark.
(5) The hallmark for the gold goods of fineness 585/1000 (fineness no. 4) is formed by the image of swan’s head looking to the left in the outline of the elongated irregular hexagon; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 4 located in the left upper part of the hallmark.

§ 2

The Hallmarks for Silver Goods of Statutory Fineness

(1) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 999/1000 (fineness no. 0) is formed by the image of chamois's head looking slightly to the left in the circle outline; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 0 located in the left upper part of the hallmark.
(2) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 959/1000 (fineness no. 1) is formed by the image of chamois's head looking slightly to the left in the outline of circle with the bulge at the bottom; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 1 located in the bottom bulge of the outline of the hallmark.
(3) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 925/1000 (fineness no. 2) is formed by the image of chamois's head looking slightly to the left in the outline of the inequilateral hexagon which is symmetrical according to the vertical axis, the upper horizontal line of which is cambered, and it is added with the bulge in the bottom; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 2 located in the bottom bulge of the outline of the hallmark.
(4) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 900/1000 (fineness no. 3) is formed by the image of hare’s head looking to the left in the outline of the irregular hexagon; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 3 located in the right bottom part of the hallmark.
(5) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 835/1000 (fineness no. 4) is formed by the image of hare’s head looking to the left in the outline of trapezoid the bottom horizontal line of which is cambered; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 4 located in the right bottom part of the hallmark.
(6) The hallmark for the silver goods of fineness 800/1000 (fineness no. 5) is formed by the image of hare’s head looking to the left in the outline of rectangle the side lines of which are cambered; the fineness number is marked by Arabic figure 5 located in the right bottom part of the hallmark.

§ 3

The Hallmarks for Platinum Goods

The hallmarks for the platinum goods of all the statutory finenesses have the common image of the stylised royal crown in the central part of which there is a blank space for indicating the fineness number by Arabic figure 0 to 4. The image is located

a) for fineness 999/1000 (fineness no. 0) in the circle outline,

b) for fineness 950/1000 (fineness no. 1) in the outline of rectangle the upper line of which is cambered,

c) for fineness 900/1000 (fineness no. 2) in the outline of rectangle the side lines of which are cambered,

d) for fineness 850/1000 (fineness no. 3) in the outline of symmetrical hexagon,

e) for fineness 800/1000 (fineness no. 4) in the outline originated by partial intersection of two circles of equal diameters.

§ 4

The Hallmarks for Old Goods with Fineness below the Lowest Statutory Value

(1) The hallmark for the old gold goods with the fineness below the lowest statutory value is formed by the crossway hatch marked area background on which letter "Z" is located the central part of which is partially covered by the alchemical sign for gold (stylised depiction of sun). This image is located in the oval outline with two rectangular sectors at the narrow ends.
(2) The hallmark for the old silver goods with the fineness below the lowest statutory value is formed by the crossway hatch marked area background on which the alchemical sign for silver (stylised depiction of month) is located and added with letter "S" in the form of beard; this image is located in the outline of the isosceles triangle with the short upper base line and blunt corners.

§ 5

Symbol "METAL"

According to the size of the marked part, the symbols "METAL" are formed by the marking "METAL" or "MET" or "M" in block letters located in the rectangle or square outline.

§ 6

The depiction of the hallmarks (§ 1 to 4) and symbols "METAL" is given in Annex hereto.

§ 7

Hallmarks Distinguishing

(1) For the purpose of distinguishing the specific bureau of the Assay Office which stamped the specific hallmark, the miniature capital letters located in the hallmark usually near the figure marking out the fineness number are used.
(2) The bureaus of the Assay Office in the Czech Republic are assigned with the following letters:

B - Brno

O - Ostrava

K - Červený Kostelec

Z - Plzeň

H - Hradec Králové

P - Praha

J - Jablonec nad Nisou

R - Tábor

L - Olomouc

T - Turnov

Finenesses of Solders and Composition of Jewellery Alloys

§ 8

(1) The fineness of the solder for soldering the gold goods must not be lower than the fineness of the soldered goods.
(2) The fineness of the solder for soldering the silver goods must be 600/1000 of silver at the minimum.
(3) The fineness of the solder for soldering the platinum goods must be 585/1000 of gold at the minimum.
(4) For soldering the machine-produced gold and silver chain, it is possible to use also the solder of lower fineness than set forth in par. 1 a 2, or the solder made from the base metals, however, under the condition that the total fineness of thus produced chain does not drop under the respective statutory fineness (§ 5 Act).

§ 9

(1) The jewellery alloy of gold may apart from gold contain silver, copper, zinc, manganese, nickel, iron, and palladium.
(2) The jewellery alloy of silver may apart from silver contain copper.
(3) The jewellery alloy of platinum may apart from platinum contain palladium, gold, copper, wolfram, nickel, and cobalt.

Hallmark Control Particulars

§ 10

Presenting Goods

Manufacturer or trader notify the control body of the kind, number of pieces, weight, and fineness of goods on the forms issued by the Assay Office; in the event that other person is such presenter, the form shall be filled in by the Assay Office.

§ 11

(1) The permanent marking by the hallmark on the goods is performed by mechanical stamp by the stamping tool or, in the event of approval by the presenter, by the laser beam burn-out.
(2) Should the goods made from several precious metals be permanently marked by various hallmarks, the corresponding hallmark shall be located on the relevant part of goods; if it is not possible, the hallmarks shall be located one above another, starting with the metal with lowest content.
(3) By damaging the seal (§ 20 par. 4 Act), the official marking of the goods becomes invalid in perpetuity.
(4) Certificate (§ 20 par. 4 Act) includes the description of the goods, its weight, ascertained fineness and metal, and the official stamp. The certificate shall be valid only for the goods it has been issued for.

§ 12

Weight Limit

The goods as for which the weight of the precious metal in one separate piece does not exceed 0.5 grams as for the gold goods and platinum goods and 3 grams as for the silver goods are regarded as the goods of very low weight which do not subject to the statutory hallmark control [§ 27 par. 1 letter a) point 3 Act].

§ 13

Old Goods

The old goods which do not subject to the statutory hallmark control [§ 27 par. 1 letter d) Act] include:

a) medals and plaquettes stamped by 1939, provided these are not the parts of goods in the fixed coupling (e.g. by soldering or riveting),

b) medals and plaquettes stamped by 1992 by National Mint in Kremnica and marked with the mint mark consisting of capital letter "K" located in the hatched octangle.

§ 14

Ingots marking

The ingots of the precious metals with the weight up to 50 grams shall be marked by the Assay Office only by the official symbol, the ingots with the weight up to 50 to 1500 grams also by the ingot number, and the ingots with the weight above 1500 grams also by the fineness number and the weight value.

§ 15

Annulling Provisions

The following is hereby annulled:
1. Decree of the Federal Ministry of Economy No. 540/1992 Coll. pursuant to which the Act on Hallmarking and the Control of Precious Metals (The Hallmarking Act) is implemented.

2. Decree No. 324/2000 Coll. which amends the Decree of the Federal Ministry of Economy No. 540/1992 Coll. pursuant to which the Act on Hallmarking and the Control of Precious Metals (The Hallmarking Act) is implemented.

§ 16

The Decree comes into force on 1^st January 2004.

Minister:

Ing. Urban in his own hand

Annex of decree no. 363/2003 Sb.

CZECH HALLMARKS

for gold, silver and platinum articles

GOLD SILVER PLATINUM

fineness fineness fineness

999/1000 999/1000 999/1000