USE OF THE LION MARK FOR ENGLISH SILVER

That this House, concerned at the ending of 450 years of continuous hallmarking of English silver with the Lion Mark as a guarantee of the quality which has made English silverware the best in the world; urges the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to insist on keeping the Lion Mark as a compulsory symbol imposed by the Assay Offices; considers that if the European Commission's desire to standardise symbols across the EU leads to any amendment of the Hallmarking Act, it should only be by adding the Euro symbol to the Lion to enable consumers round the world to recognise English quality production, as well as European origin; considers that if the Lion symbol is reduced to a voluntary rather than a compulsory mark the long historical continuation will be fractured, and any importer of foreign produced silver will be able to submit imports to the Assay Office which will then be required to stamp them with the English Lion if requested, a situation which can only weaken both the value of the Lion Mark and the world-wide reputation of English silver; further urges the Secretary of State to act quickly to save the Lion Mark so that the Assay Office can prepare their expensive die-stamps for next year and continue to operate in certainty; and regrets the fact that decisions on this important matter have not only been left far too late but have also been approached with neither public debate nor wider consultation of either consumers or producers of England's high quality silver.