The Gold Marketing Chain in Suriname - WWF, Abu Dhabi unveil ...

General Order no. 5 regards a general permit to gold buyers to sell crude gold for industrial and
artistic purposes to the public. With this order, all gold buyers are allowed to sell their gold to
the public for industrial and artistic purposes. This means that when selling crude gold for
industrial and artistic purposes a special permit from the Currency Committee is not needed.
Gold in this General Order is defined as crude gold in dust or nugget form.
State Order regarding the mailing of gold abroad through parcel post
When considering the mailing of gold through parcel post there is one applicable law which is
the State Order regarding the mailing of gold abroad through parcel post. For the mailing of
gold with parcel post certain acts have to be committed, such as:
‐ a written declaration of the mailing has to be delivered to the collector of taxes in
Paramaribo, Nieuw Nickerie, Coronie or Albina while also submitting the gold in question
and a receipt of payment of gold tax. In the application the following should be mentioned:
o Mentioning of the gold being mailed with parcel post;
o The number of packets and the weight of the gold that will be put in each packet;
o The destination of each packet of gold.
‐ immediately after weighing the gold, the public servant packs the gold, writes the address,
and in red ink writes the words: Gold Suriname.
‐ After this is done the packet can be brought to the post office, where the weight is verified
and then it can be posted.
The Bank Act 52
The Central Bank of Suriname has as main task to safeguard the stability of the value of the
Surinamese currency (art. 9a). As the Monetary watchdog of the country, by law the CBvS is
responsible for the circulation of paper money. Also when it comes to trade the CBvS 53 has a
license to trade in precious metals (such as gold), convert gold into coins and to test and refine
gold.
For a long time, the CBvS was the only authorized entity to refine gold. Since September of
2002, however, the Central Bank is no longer active when it comes to buying crude gold (See
Chapter 4). A confidential document reveals that the government wanted to liberalize gold
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This paragraph was completed with information obtained through an telephone interview with Mr. Mc Lean,
Head of the Gold Laboratory of the Central bank of Suriname.
53
Bank Act, art. 16h: Behalve tot het uitgeven van bankbiljetten, is de Bank bevoegd tot het verrichten van de volgende
werkzaamheden, voor zover noodzakelijk voor de uitoefening van haar in artikel 9 omschreven taak: h. de handel in edele
metalen, het doen vermunten daarvan, alsmede het doen essayeren en affineren van edele metalen en van edel metaalertsen;
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