FTC Revises Jewelry Guides on Platinum

(IDEX Online News) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised the Platinum Section of the Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metal and Pewter Industries to reflect the use of base metal alloys in platinum jewelry. The revised Guides address how to mark and describe “platinum/base metal alloys” which contain between 50 and 85 percent platinum.

According to the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC), the revised Guides, advertising of these alloys should:

• Disclose the product’s full composition, by name and not abbreviation, and the percentage of each metal it contains – for example, “75 percent Platinum-25 percent Copper,” or “60 percent Platinum–35 percent Cobalt–5 percent Rhodium,” and;

• Disclose that the product may not have the same attributes or properties as traditional platinum products.

Marketers need not make the second disclosure if they have reliable scientific evidence that a product is materially the same as one containing at least 850 parts per thousand pure platinum.

The FTC declined to issue detailed guidance on products containing platinum plating or coatings. It based its decision on the lack of consumer perception studies in the record to support additional guidance on that issue.

As in the past, any item that contains less than 500 parts per thousand pure platinum may not be marked or described as “platinum.” Jewelry that has 850 parts per thousand pure platinum – meaning that it is 85 percent pure platinum and 15 percent other metals – may be referred to as “traditional platinum.” The other metals may include either Platinum Group Metals or non-precious base metals.

The use of the word “platinum,” without qualification, is also unchanged.