President issues federal law on precious metals and stones trade

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a federal law specifying regulations on trading in, and hallmarking and certification of precious metals and stones, and gold, silver and platinum jewellery.

Dr. Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water and Chairman of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA), stressed the importance of the new law for increasing the effectiveness of regulations in one of the country's most important economic sectors, as well as protecting dealers of precious metals and stones.

In a press release, Minister Bin Fahad said Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 will enter into force six months after publishing the text of the law in the official gazette.

According to the 31-article law, people involved in forging hallmarks of precious metal and/or certificates of precious stone jewellery, or in selling, offering, possessing or trading in jewellery with forged hallmarks or certificates, will be imprisoned for at least two years and/or fined between Dh500.000 and Dh1000,000.

Those involved in dealing in precious metal or precious stone jewellery without proper hallmarking or certification from authorised institutions will be imprisoned for one year and/or fined between Dh250.000 and Dh500,000.

A fine of between Dh100,000 and Dh500,000 will be imposed on any authorised institution found issuing certificates for precious stones and metals showing incorrect information.

Any violation of any of the provisions of the new law will be punishable by a fine of between Dh50,000 and Dh100,000.

The Chairman of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) noted that the UAE's annual consumption of gold and precious stone and pearl jewellery is estimated at Dh60 billion, while the sector accounts for 37 per cent of the country's non-oil trade.