Recycling and repair

When you sell jewellery made of recycled products it is your responsibility to ensure that the articles are safe to consumers and do not contain restricted substances, for example.

If you manufacture articles of precious metals, remember that even repaired and altered articles must meet the requirements laid down for articles of precious metals. The requirements can be found in the guide: Articles of precious metals - manufacture, import and sales.

Repaired and altered articles of precious metals must be stamped with the mandatory marks and the fineness mark must correspond to the composition of the article.

You may use the marks of the original article of precious metals if

  • the changes are small, such as ring resizing
  • you are changing the intended use of the article of precious metals without making major alterations to the article; for example, bending an old silver spoon into a bracelet

Remember that as the person carrying out the alteration work you are responsible for the alteration, not the responsibility mark holder who originally marked the article.

Carefully consider the use of old marks if

  • you take components from an old article of precious metal and use them as material for a new article without melting down the old article and re-alloying the raw material
  • you use old articles of precious metals as raw material for new articles

In these cases, the person responsible for the compliance with requirements of the new articles is you, not the holder of the old responsibility mark. Old marks must never be used in a manner that could lead consumers to mistake the marks to also apply to the new components of the article. Transferring only the marks from an article of precious metal to another article is prohibited.

Remove old marks if

  • you use components from an old article to make a new article. Alternatively, you can leave the marks and ensure that it is clear from the new article what component of the article the old marks refer to.

Re-stamp

  • new components of repaired or altered articles with the appropriate marks
  • other metals added to old articles of precious metals with the marks METAL or Cu, for example
  • unmarked parts of old articles if you use them as material for new articles of precious metals
  • repaired or modified lightweight articles of precious metals with your responsibility mark to make it clear who is responsible for the articles’ compliance with requirements.