New ‘sub-office’ in Heathrow for Edinburgh Assay Office

The Edinburgh Assay Office has launched a new, one-stop, secure, in-transit hallmarking and onward delivery service based at its new facility at Heathrow Airport. 

The Edinburgh Assay Office said that in “the global jewellery market, the challenge of complying with separate regulations in each EU location has made it difficult to create an effective supply chain that serves more than one.”

The organisation’s new service aims to remedy this by marking in a single location, while helping companies achieve savings by offering an “all-in-one” hallmarking and logistics service.

The new hallmarking and onward shipping service, offered in partnership with secure logistics company Malca-Amit, will enable importers of precious metal jewellery from outside Europe to have all of their goods tested and marked in one secure location rather than dealing with Assay Offices in each country of importation.

After marking, the service will offer consolidated shipments that can be broken down for distribution to multiple locations, removing the need to carry separate stock for each country.

Benefits of the new service include lower costs, fewer delays when importing precious metal jewellery into Europe, and access to internationally recognised UK and Vienna Convention hallmarks.

Scott Walter, Edinburgh Assay Office CEO, said: “We believe passionately in the value added by independent third party hallmarking, for the consumer and retailers. We also have a long track record of evolving and adapting our hallmarking service to better meet the needs of both existing and emerging business models.

“Hallmarking in transit, in partnership with Malca-Amit, provides a practical, cost effective, pan-European, integrated logistics and hallmarking solution for domestic and international manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.”