Online Articles

MJSA Guide to U.S. Marking and Stamping Regulations Disclosing Gold Content • Disclosing Silver Content • Disclosing Platinum Content • Disclosing Rhodium Coatings • Multi-Metal Pieces Introduction The legal standards for stamping and marking fine jewelry, along with base-metal jewelry either bonded or plated with precious metals, are primarily based on two sources that act […]

MJSA Guide to the Dodd Frank Conflict Minerals Rules When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was voted into law in the summer of 2010, very few people in the jewelry industry expected the new law to have anything to do with the raw materials they source. But near the end of […]

MJSA Guide to Lead Laws Signed into law in the summer of 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) set new federal lead standards for products (including jewelry) intended for children age 12 and under. The lead content limit was initially set at 600 parts per milliion (ppm), or 0.06 percent. On Aug. 14, […]

Background The issue of cadmium in children’s jewelry came to public attention in early 2010, when an Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed 12 of 103 pieces of mainly Chinese-made children’s costume jewelry, which AP had obtained in U.S. retail stores, contained at least 10 percent cadmium, some in the 80-90 percent range. Tests showed that […]