Background
Precious metal control that has been practiced in most of the European countries for centuries was originally established to verify the precious metal content in gold and silver coins; nowadays this control is mainly applied to jewellery, silverware and watchcases. The technical and legal requirements of every country have been hampering the cross border trade of the articles of precious metals. Following lengthy discussions for decades the 7 members of European free Trade Association agreed to draft the Convention on the control and marking of articles of precious metals. It was signed at Vienna in November 1972 and came into force on June 27, 1975. The main aim is to facilitate trade and maintain consumer protection. It started with 7 member states and now there are 18 states full members, 2 are observers, and a number of other countries intent to follow the work carried out by the Standing Committee on a regular basis. A pre-requisite of becoming a member of the Vienna convention is to enforce Hallmarking in the country. Each member/contracting countries then allows the import of the articles of jewellery without any further testing and marking (if such articles qualify for the local market).

PGJDC working towards Pakistan becoming a member of the Vienna Convention
Delegates from Pakistan under the umbrella of Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company will be sent to Vienna in March 2008 to attend the meeting of the Standing Committee of Vienna Convention.

Pakistan as an observer at Vienna Convention
Initially, four meetings are to be attended as guest and then as an observer. A letter of intent and application to become a full member of the Convention is to be initiated while attending the meeting as an observer.