The government has pledged to fight plans to scrap the system of hallmarks that guarantee the precious metal content of jewellery and other items containing gold, silver and platinum sold in the UK.

Jewellery businesses say they fear that the removal of the hallmark system would erode consumer confidence in their products, with unscrupulous suppliers able to lie about the precious metal content of their goods.

Melanie Johnson, consumer minister, told the Financial Times: 'It is clear there is no real support in the UK for changing a system that has worked well for 700 years and offers the consumer a guarantee that the goods are what they claim to be.'

The draft directive proposals 'would effectively weaken this protection and we will not support this,' she added.

However, new Italian proposals argue that a form of self-regulation could replace the old system.

Under the Italian plan, producers would be able to 'self-certificate' goods, stamping them with a new set of EU-wide hallmarks that independent assay offices would also have to adopt.

However, consumers would be unable to distinguish self-certificated items from those which had been independently tested.