Hallmarking (Amendment) Act 2019
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Amendment of Principal Act | ||
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6. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 4: | ||
“Power to establish assay offices outside State | ||
4A. (1) The Company may, with the consent of the Minister, establish one or more assay offices outside the State for the performance by such office of functions in relation to— | ||
(a) the assaying of articles of precious metal manufactured outside the State, and | ||
(b) the striking, with an offshore hallmark, of such articles of precious metal which conform to the Irish standards of fineness. | ||
(2) The Company shall give to the Minister such information as the Minister may reasonably require for the purposes of determining whether to give his or her consent under subsection (1), including information relating to— | ||
(a) the staffing or other resources that would ordinarily be required by an assay office for the performance of functions in relation to the assaying and hallmarking of articles of precious metal outside the State in accordance with the requirements of this Act, | ||
(b) the corporate governance, administration and management of the assay office proposed to be established, | ||
(c) the terms and conditions of employment of members of staff to be employed in the assay office, and | ||
(d) the costs likely to be incurred in establishing the assay office. | ||
(3) An assay office established under subsection (1) shall not strike or otherwise apply an offshore hallmark to an article of precious metal submitted to it for hallmarking unless it is satisfied that the article conforms to the Irish standards of fineness. | ||
Arrangements with other assay offices | ||
4B. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), the Company may, with the consent of the Minister, enter into an agreement, on such terms and conditions as it considers appropriate, with another assay office situate outside the State for— | ||
(a) the assaying, by that office on behalf of the Company, of articles of precious metal manufactured outside the State, and | ||
(b) the striking, with an offshore hallmark, by that office on behalf of the Company, of such articles of precious metal which conform to the Irish standards of fineness. | ||
(2) The Company shall not enter into an agreement referred to in subsection (1) with an assay office unless the office concerned is an assay office of a Contracting State to the Convention on the Control and Marking of Articles of Precious Metals done at Vienna on 15 November 1972. | ||
(3) The Company shall give to the Minister such information as the Minister may reasonably require for the purposes of determining whether to give his or her consent under subsection (1), including information relating to— | ||
(a) the corporate governance, administration and management of the assay office with whom it is proposed to enter into an agreement, | ||
(b) the terms and conditions on which it is proposed to enter into an agreement with that assay office, including terms and conditions of a financial nature, and | ||
(c) the charges to be imposed in respect of the assaying and hallmarking of articles of precious metal by that assay office on behalf of the Company. | ||
(4) It shall be a condition of an agreement referred to in subsection (1) that the authorised assay office concerned shall not strike or otherwise apply an offshore hallmark to an article of precious metal submitted to it for hallmarking on behalf of the Company unless that assay office is satisfied that the article conforms to the Irish standards of fineness. | ||
Certain powers of the Company for purposes of sections 4A and 4B | ||
4C. (1) The Company shall have all such powers as are necessary or expedient for the performance of its functions under sections 4A and 4B. | ||
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Company may, for the purposes of section 4A or 4B, by writing under its common seal, authorise any person as being a person entitled to bind the Company. | ||
(3) An authorisation under this section may— | ||
(a) relate to a particular transaction or class of transactions, | ||
(b) be subject to such terms and conditions (including duration of period of authorisation) as shall be specified in the authorisation, and | ||
(c) be revoked in writing under the common seal of the Company. | ||
(4) A reference in this section to a person’s entitlement to bind the Company shall, subject to the terms of his or her authorisation, include a reference to his or her authority to exercise any power of the Company and to authorise others to do so. | ||
(5) The Company may have for use in any place abroad an official seal which shall resemble the common seal of the Company with the addition on its face of the name of every place abroad where it is to be used. | ||
(6) Subsections (3) to (6) of section 44 of the Companies Act 2014 shall apply with any necessary modifications to the Company as if it were a company authorised by its constitution to have for use in any place abroad an official seal. | ||
(7) In this section— | ||
‘official seal’, in relation to the Company, means the official seal referred to in subsection (5); | ||
‘place abroad’ means any territory, district or place not situate in the State.”. |