The judge files the investigation against the Catalan jeweler Tous as he does not see evidence of a crime

The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has filed the complaint of the Prosecutor's Office against the Tous jewelry brand for the crimes of misleading advertising, continued fraud, forgery in documents and corruption in business, as he did not find evidence of a criminal offense in the facts.

This file comes after Pedraz summoned Tous and Applus Laboratories last Wednesday as investigated legal entities to study the possible impact on a very large number of products allegedly placed on the market with misleading or fraudulent advertising.

In his car, Pedraz rules out the crime of fraud as there is no deception to the buyer, since at no time does the brand say that solid silver is being bought. "There is no evidence that the consumer buys the piece thinking that it is solid and that is how the seller has let him know," the magistrate points out in his order.

Non-metallic filler, electroforming

The case came to the National Court after the association of consumers and users of jewelry Consujoya sent the analysis of several pieces of Tous to the Ecomep laboratory and the University Institute of Nanochemistry of the University of Córdoba, and found non-metallic filler in some pieces silver. According to the association, this contravened the requirements established by the precious metals law.

Pedraz, on the other hand, points out that from said reports it is concluded that "the pieces analyzed from the outside are sterling silver without it being possible to say that according to the alloy law they are not, since there is no mixture."

"The alloy requires a mixture (for example of precious metal and ordinary metal) and the 'grade' is the ratio between the weight of the precious metal and the total weight of the alloy," explains the judge in the car, for later Note that the alloy in the case of the Tous pieces analyzed is only for the outer silver, without considering the filler because it is not mixed with the metal. "You can't identify 'law' with percentage," he warns.

Therefore, the judge concludes that it cannot be said that the facts can be considered a crime, and that it is not necessary to carry out any other procedure as requested by the complainants. He points out that despite the technique used to manufacture the pieces by Tous, electroforming, they are still precious metals.

An outdated regulation

In fact, the judge warns that the certificate of each piece that is delivered to the buyers states that the articles manufactured by electroforming may contain a non-metallic core in order to confer stability.

In this line, Pedraz alludes in his order to article 55 of the regulations of the law of objects made with precious materials and points out that, since it dates from 1985, it does not include the technique used by Tous. However, the magistrate emphasizes that the context and social reality must be taken into account -in 1985 this technique did not exist-, and he does not dispute that the filling used in the silver pieces is not to give them stability.

"The jewels in question -silver-, if they did not have the filling, could easily be deformed, which does not happen if they are gold. The pieces discussed are protected by law and are thus considered precious metal," he adds.

There is no documentary falsehood

Likewise, he explains that there is neither misleading advertising nor documentary falsity in relation to the certificate issued by the company that performs the contrasts for Tous pieces -Applus Laboratories- and that it complies with the regulations on precious metals. And he rejects the crime of corruption between individuals since there is no evidence or evidence whatsoever that minimally supports bribery.

Judge Pedraz also dismisses the need to open more proceedings as requested by Consujoya, who requested a list of jewelry companies that use electroforming and leave padding.