Mrs Paula Pedro, Director of the Assay Offices’ and Supervision Unit (UCF), on behalf of INCM, will take part in a conference on “Growth and Sustainability in Gondomar”, to be held at the Municipal Auditorium of Gondomar on next 10 September from 02:30 PM.
The UCF Director will address the panel on “The Jewellery Sector and Foreign Markets”, counting also on the participation of Mr Nuno Marinho, president of AORP – Association of Jewellery and Watchmaking Professionals of Portugal, and Mrs Eunice Neves, Director of CINDOR – Professional Training Centre for Jewellery and Watchmaking activities.
The conference will be broadcast live on the social media of the Municipality of Gondomar and the weekly publication “Vida Económica” (Economic Living).
Today’s assay offices face new challenges in order to protect final consumers, not neglecting the necessary partnership with economic operators.
Read here the point of view of Mrs Paula Pedro, Director of the Assay Office and Supervisory Unit, on this and other topics.
The Assay Office has constantly monitored the activity of the Goldsmith and Jewellery Sector in this crucial phase of recovery where some difficulties are still felt. This analysis is based on a constant dialogue at regional level with the most representative operators, companies and their associations. In order to contribute to the revitalisation and recovery of the Portuguese Goldsmith and Jewellery sector, the Assay Office has been considering a solution we announce today: continuing to offer free of charge, and for a minimum period of 6 months, a Safe Transportation Service to the districts of Braga, Aveiro and Coimbra on the routes announced in March and described here.
Similar to the practice already followed, subscribing to the Safe Transportation Service presupposes, in order to ensure greater efficiency and quality, that the Assay Office will place the mark of responsibility on all batches.
With this initiative, the Assay Office continues to ensure the removal of one barrier: the geographic one.
We will continue to reflect on new ways to serve our customers and to support this remarkable Sector, affirming our mark of efficiency and competence: the Mark that makes the difference.
Last week, reciprocating the Assay Office visit to the premises of APAO (Association of Official Expert Appraisers of Goldsmithery and Jewellery) held in October last year, this Association decided in turn to be present at the Assay Office Delegation of Gondomar.
Alfredo Russo, from the APAO, had the opportunity to visit the Goldpark facilities and to know about the marking techniques and other processes implemented by this official service. It was also the opportunity for a conversation about the history of evaluators and assay marks and an occasion to promote greater partnership between these two entities bound by a common goal: Consumer Rights Protection.
MERE PRIOR COMMUNICATION BECOMES SIMPLER AND MORE INTUITIVE
The Assay Office has been promoting open and frank communication procedures with the entire sector of Goldsmiths and Jewellery, with a focus on simpler and more intuitive dialogue for the sake of more informed, less complex administrative procedures .
For that purpose, the mandatory forms have been revised in order to simplify their filling, a process that began with the reformulation of the Mere Prior Communication procedure. The production of illustrative videos as regards some procedures in order to elucidate our customers and final consumers is now under way.
The first of those videos, which you may see here, focuses precisely on how to complete the Mere Prior Communication form, but others will follow.
Stay attentive!
Culminating a process that began with the publication of Portaria No. 374-A/2017 of 31 October 2017, we now inform you that new symbols of the official assay marks will enter into force on next January 1st.
The new updated marking frames may be purchased, as of today, at the Assay Office counters and at the INCM online store.
In line with a simplification approach and with a view to greater proximity of the Assay Office to the Sector and to the final consumer, in addition to their new symbols, the marks will show a unique perimeter, regardless of whether they are set at the Porto/Gondomar or Lisbon Assay Offices.
This simplification approach, besides having the main and obvious advantages of better communication with the final consumer, is consistent with the current process to improve the Assay Office operations and services, an evolution that gained full impetus throughout 2020 and which we will enhance all along 2021, by reaching new efficiency and innovation levels.
In the context of the latest communication initiatives and with a clear purpose of disseminating the contrast mark before the final consumer, the Assay Office has started a partnership with Catarina Furtado, a most popular TV figure among the Portuguese.
The disclosure, made on Instagram by the TV presenter, actress and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, has provided the Assay Office Communication Plan with the undeniable credibility granted by this mediatic personality, whose impact will be felt, by association, in the very Goldsmith and Jewellery sector.
The latest Economics supplement of weekly newspaper Expresso shows us the profile of the new Assay Office Director, Mrs. Paula Pedro, through her professional career and some personal aspects she reveals.
Paula Pedro, as she points out, sees as part of her mission and greatest challenge “to strengthen the visibility and knowledge of the Assay Office by the final consumer”.
This communicational approach by the new Assay Office Direction is consistent with the vision of openness, transparency and proximity that has guided the initiatives led in recent months and that will help demystify the Assay Office role, as well as the understanding by the final consumer about the importance of the certification mark as a factor of prestige and appreciation of the entire sector of Goldsmithery and Jewellery.
On last Tuesday morning, the Assay Office met with five Economic Operators of the municipality of Guimarães to set the requirements for the new service of Workshop Marking. The project aims to bring the assay mark to the customers’ workshops, through the displacement of Assay Office employees who will make the on-site piece marking. This pilot project, which will start in mid-October, will allow customers to obtain the markings in just a few hours, without the need to move them, which will promote greater security, agility and convenience for their operations.
This new service, which will start in a pilot format, will once again achieve the Assay Office goal of innovating, increasing its efficiency and that of its customers and, consequently, helping revitalize the Goldsmith and Jewellery sector.
The Assay Office meets its customers
The Assay Office had, once again, the privilege of visiting and meeting, from the inside, what best is done in the Portuguese Jewelry Sector.
These meetings were hosted by three economical operators from Gondomar and Porto: Jose Martins Barbosa, TMB and Bluebird.
In a first meeting, attended also by AORP (Portuguese Association of Jewelers and Watchmakers), the Assay Office met with entrepreneurs Carlos Barbosa, Tiago Barbosa and Alexandre Bastos Gomes, from the industries Jose Martins Barbosa and TMB, from Gondomar.
In a second meeting, the Assay Office discussed the difficulties felt by the Sector and its opportunities for improvement with Diana Loureiro and Susana Andrade, entrepreneurs from Bluebird (Porto).
These meetings began with a tour through Goldpark, giving these industrialists a chance to see, up close, all operations and getting to know the backstage of a more secure and modern Assay Office.
This direct interaction serves a double purpose of fostering a mutual agreement and, on the other hand, promotes a continuous reflection on the revitalization strategies for this Sector.
