Geneva (26 September 2011): The 69th meeting of the Standing Committee (SC) took place in Warsaw (Poland) on 19 September 2011 under the chairmanship of Mr. Ronald W.A. Le Bas (Irish Assay Office). The meeting was attended by 56 officials representing 26 countries of which all 19 Contracting States, 2 Applicant States (Italy and Ukraine) and 5 non-Members (Bosnia-Herzegovina, China, Moldova, Romania, and Singapore).
The SC recommended to the Contracting States to invite Italy to accede to the Convention (see separate news above). It also noted with satisfaction that Croatia officially declared its willingness to apply for membership (see separate news above).
The SC took note that the amended Convention's Annexes entered into force on 3 August 2011 (see separate news below).
The SC revised the election procedure of the Chairperson and its two Deputies. The revised election procedure will enter into force on 1st January 2012 and a new Second Deputy Chairperson will be elected at the next meeting. The SC also reviewed a revised proposal by the Standing Technical Group (STG) on a glossary, which comprises now around 85 commonly used terms. The STG will finalise the Glossary at its next meeting on 16 January 2012.
The SC reviewed the operation of the Convention and discussed a proposal by the STG to require accreditation from Assay Offices, which exceed the permissible limits under the Convention's Round Robin (interlaboratory proficiency testing scheme on precious metals). It also reviewed statistics on the number of articles marked with the CCM, which still show a depressed market, and discussed the possibility of introducing lower finenesses, as the price of precious metals is continuously increasing. It supported a proposal by the Secretariat to make information on the Contracting States' legal finenesses available on the Convention's web site.
The SC noted that all Assay Offices had participated in the latest Round Robin on gold, palladium and silver, which was run jointly with The International Association of Assay Offices (www.theiaao.com). It also agreed to run another Round Robin on Marking Technique - this time on press marking and marking by laser. The results will be discussed at the next meeting.
Members agreed to reconvene in Geneva (Switzerland) on 26 March 2012. Subject to confirmation, the autumn 2012 meeting will be held in Italy.