- The provisions about precious metals control regulate the trade with articles in gold, silver, platinum, palladium and articles coated with precious metals.
- In Switzerland, precious metals articles must bear the mark for a standard of fineness – in parts per thousandth - and a responsibility mark registered at the Central Office for Precious Metals Control; it is irrelevant whether the goods were manufactured in Switzerland or in another country.
- Precious metal watch-cases must be officially hallmarked (official hallmark for all precious metals and for all legal standards is the "head of a St. Bernhard dog").
- Switzerland is a member of the Convention on the control and marking of articles of precious metals. The Common Control Mark for gold, silver, platinum and palladium articles, affixed in addition to the «St. Bernhard’s Head», facilitates exports to the other member states of this international agreement (Hallmarking Convention).
- The Precious Metals Control as part of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) carries out random controls on cross-border trade goods and monitors the domestic trade in precious metals goods.
- The Swiss Precious Metals Control is accredited in accordance with SN ISO 17025 as testing laboratory STS 071 for analysis of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
Observations
Services
- Official controlling and hallmarking of precious metals and multimetal articles.
- Quantitative determination of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in precious metal alloys.
On request
- Expertises of goods (determination of the material composition and the designation of goods; for example found objects), but no value determination.
- Quantitative determination of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in ores, salts, wastes and solutions.
- Semi-quantitative (non-destructive) analyses on goods.
- Testing of the thickness and composition of precious metal coatings.
