Articles made of precious metal

In adopting the report by Mr PIERROS (PPE, GR) with 159 votes in favour, 26 against and 15 abstentions, Parliament made several amendments to the Commission proposal. They aimed to strengthen protection for consumers through greater transparency and harmonisation at Community level. It was particularly important that proposals be made on the conditions for placing articles of precious metals on the market. Due to the extremely frequent fraud in certain third countries, the rapporteur stressed that rigorous checks should be carried out at the borders of the European Union. In order to easily identify the party responsible for placing the articles on the market, the report proposed that the mark of a notified body, which should be established in the Community, be struck on the articles. Further, consumers should be able to identify easily both the manufacturers and the notified bodies. To this end, a register containing all the symbols and marks should be available to them. �