Good Delivery Rules

The Good Delivery Rules set out every aspect of the Good Delivery administration including the specification standards for London-traded gold and silver bars.

The Good Delivery Rules provides information for existing refiners and the banks that work with them, as well as the necessary guidance for refiners seeking accreditation.

A high level of consistency is maintained within the London market by ensuring both refiners and vaults implement the Good Delivery Rules relating to a bar's assay, weight and its safe handling and stacking.

Download the current Good Delivery Rules

  • GDL Governance

    MCBIH Physical Committee

    The Physical Committee is made up of industry experts from the physical bullion market. It is responsible for monitoring, developing and protecting the Good Delivery List and works closely with sub-Groups such as the MCBIH Referees and the MCBIH's Vault Managers Working Party. It also ensures that standards are maintained with emphasis on continuous improvement and transparency of the market. The Committee meets approximately every month throughout the year. Find out more about the work carried out by the MCBIH Committees.

    Vault Managers Working Group

    The Vault Managers Working Group comprises the Bank of England and representatives from those MCBIH members with their own vaulting facilities in London. The group meets regularly to consider issues relating to bar quality and vaulting procedures and ensures that a level of consistency is maintained across all London vaults. Vault Managers are required to document every case of bar rejection and provide the associated information to the MCBIH Executive

    MCBIH Referees

    Good Delivery Referees are refiners appointed by the MCBIH to assist its maintenance of the Good Delivery System in the following ways:

    • The technical assessment of applicants for listing;
    • The anonymous proactive monitoring of refiners on the List; and
    • The provision of technical advice on a range of topics.

    The Referees who attend quarterly meetings at the MCBIH are represented by:

    • Argor-Heraeus SA: Alessandro Ruffoni
    • Metalor Technologies SA: Jonathan Jodry
    • PAMP SA: Daniela Manara, Barbara Badiello
    • Rand Refinery (PTY) Ltd: Terance Nkosi, Madeleine Theron
    • Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo: Hitoshi Kosai
  • GDL Application and Maintenance Fees

    Application Fees

    Fees are levied by the MCBIH for a Good Delivery application to cover the costs of the MCBIH and the work of the referees. Such fees may be reviewed by the MCBIH at any time but not retrospectively once an application has commenced. Currently the total fee, excluding VAT, amounts to £29,040 for gold and £22,600 for silver. The fees are payable in three tranches:

    Fees Payable by Good Delivery Applicants (in £ sterling – subject to VAT where indicated)

    Fees (all fees are payable to the MCBIH) Gold Silver
    On Application (plus VAT at the applicable rate) 4,000 4,000
    Stage 1:  Assay Test (not normally subject to VAT) 11,940 5,500
    Stage 2: Testing of Applicant’s bars (not normally subject to VAT) 13,100 13,100
    Total 29,040 22,600

    *All fees subject to an annual review

    The above-mentioned fees are payable in advance at each stage. The fees shown for Stage 1 cover the cost of the samples (including their metal content) provided to the applicant but not the cost of shipping incurred by the MCBIH (which will be charged in addition to the fees shown). In the event of an applicant not progressing to the next stage, for whatever reason, no part of the fees already paid is refundable. But in such situations, no fees are payable for the next stage.

    Once the tests have been completed, the after-melting weight and fine troy ounce content for gold or troy ounce content for silver of the sample bars supplied by the applicant will be notified to the applicant by the MCBIH. By separate arrangement with the MCBIH, the gold or silver may be sold and the proceeds credited to the applicant. Alternatively, an equivalent weight of gold or silver can be made available to the applicant (subject to the settlement of all outstanding fees) on a loco London basis by book transfer through the London bullion market clearing mechanism. Concerning the 11th bar, which will have been retained in the nominated vault in London, it should be noted that this is not considered to be LGD even if the applicant has been accredited. Similar arrangements for selling the metal content may be made or alternatively, the applicant can arrange to collect it from the vault.

    Annual Maintenance Fee

    In order to maintain its accreditation, each refiner on the Good Delivery List must pay an annual maintenance fee to the MCBIH (of £8,400 per metal or £12,600 if a refiner is listed for both gold and silver). Refiners which are either Members or Associates will receive a discount of 50% on the respective membership fees.

    All the above amounts are subject to UK Value Added Tax where applicable.

    *Please note that these prices are subject to an annual review process that will realise a minimum increase based on the year-end rate inflation. The website will be updated in January of each year.

    Proactive Monitoring (PAM)

    Appointment of Supervisor for dip sampling and Bar casting operation

    The costs and expenses of the supervisor must be paid by the Refiner. The supervising company will charge a fixed fee (US$1,250) for each dip sampling operation witnessed (and US$1,550 including bar casting), unless specifically agreed otherwise, plus travelling and subsistence expenses incurred by its representative. Thus, the expenses chargeable by the supervising companies will depend on the locations of their representative offices relative to that of the Refiner.

    Please see Annex H of the Good Delivery Rules for full details on the PAM process.

  • Provision of Self-Testing Samples to Bona Fide Applicants

    Bona fide refiners who are in the final stages of preparing to apply for MCBIH Good Delivery accreditation may purchase from a limited supply of gold and/or silver self-testing samples from the MCBIH. The samples can be used for a final check of the laboratory's assaying accuracy before the refiner submits its application for accreditation. A set of self-testing samples is limited to a maximum of 6 per refiner, for each metal, and the cost of supplying these is as follows:

    Approximately 5-gram gold samples at £465 per sample which is a total of £2,790 for the set of 6, including the value of the metal content, plus VAT (as applicable)

    Approximately 30-gram silver samples at £415 per sample which is a total of £2,490 for the set of 6, including the value of the metal content, plus VAT (as applicable)

    The cost of shipment of the samples to the refinery will be payable in addition. Please note that self-testing assay results (in fineness terms to 2 decimal places) must be submitted to the MCBIH within 6 weeks of the laboratory confirming receipt of the samples. For each sample, the laboratory should supply:

    1. The number of trials carried out
    2. The average fineness and
    3. The standard deviation achieved.

    On receiving these results, the MCBIH will then provide the refiner with the reference assay values (expressed in fineness to 2 decimal places) for the samples. MCBIH will keep the submitted results confidential. In other words, they will not be provided either to the Physical Committee or to MCBIH's Referees group, except on an anonymous basis where the refiner would not be identified. Failure of the refiner to submit its assay results within 6 weeks could result in the subsequent application being rejected.