The Standing Committee, established under the Convention, has a number of other activities, which indirectly facilitate consumer protection as well as the trade of precious metals articles. These include relations with Non-Members, networking, the visit of Assay Offices, etc.
Networking is essential in a field, which is internationally not harmonised and where there are so many differences between countries. The Standing Committee offers an ideal platform for networking and for the informal exchange of information on national legal requirements as well as local practices. Assay Offices, which participate in the Standing Committee, are the best informed in the world and thus able to provide the most reliable information to their customers.
Due to the importance of networking and the fact that some Standing Committee’s activities such as the Round Robins (RR) are not exclusively reserved to Members, a number of Non-Member States are regularly invited to participate in Standing Committee meetings. The following Non-Member States participate in SC meetings, usually through their appointed Assay Office: Bahrain, China, France, Macedonia (North-), Mauritius, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Singapore and Spain.
As meetings take place in the various Contracting States of the Convention, it enables representatives to visit the local Assay Office and exchange. These visits and exchanges allow Assay Office to share experience and – based on this experience – to improve their own system.
Thanks to meetings of the Standing Committee and direct communications channels, SC Representatives are able to discuss new developments in technology, which impact on the control of precious metal articles, as well as new practices. This allow the Convention to adapt its rules to the market, when the changes seem justified from a technical point of view and do not undermine consumer protection. Assay Offices are thus able to harmonise their practices: either they accept such goods and mark them; or they reject them. A company operating in different countries will consequently be treated the same way.