Austria Not Restricting Gold Purchases?

There’s been quite a bit of chatter the past couple of days about a claim made on the Indian commodities portal CommodityOnline that Austria was imposing restrictions on gold purchases. An article appeared on the website back on September 14 that contained the following:

A newly enacted Gold policy in Austria that restricts the free purchase of gold by individuals may just be the start of a European policy shift that might border on infringing an individual’s financial freedom.

-As per the new Austrian policies, individuals who wish to purchase gold will be restricted to purchase only 15000 Euros worth of gold at a time making gold an officially “restricted” commodity.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

Previously, residents and non-residents alike could buy and sell gold in Austria without restriction. The announcement of this new policy is generating concerns that European governments may be embarking on a program to bolster the Euro through restricting acquisitions of precious metals.

The thing is, this “newly enacted Gold policy” may not be policy at all.

Enter Mark Nestmann of The Nestmann Group, Ltd., an international wealth preservation consultancy. Mr. Nestmann also serves as the Tax and Asset Protection editor for The Sovereign Society. He wrote in his blog Mark Nestmann’s Preserving Your Privacy & Wealth today:

An article posted a few days ago on commodityonline.com made a startling claim: the Austrian government had imposed restrictions on gold purchases.

Fortunately, the story is NOT true. I contacted several banks in Austria to find out if they knew anything about the supposedly new policy. They didn’t. As one banker remarked to me:

“Totally erroneous…you can buy as much gold as you want and gain delivery within one working day. There is no distinction made between residents and non-residents.”

In lieu of an Austrian government/banking official coming out and issuing a statement, I find no reason to doubt Nestmann’s findings. This guy knows Austria. Besides being awarded a “Master of Law” (LL.M.) degree in international tax law at the Vienna University School of Economics and Business Administration, he’s the author of a book entitled Austrian Money Secrets and also has an office in Vienna.

By the way, did I mention he’s also a former investigative journalist?

Guess it would seem only natural to someone with his background to verify the claim by contacting several Austrian financial institutions before accepting it as fact.

A good lesson for us all.

Sources:

“Austria restricts gold purchase by individuals.” CommodityOnline. 14 Sep. 2011. (http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Austria-restricts-gold-purchase-by-individuals-42329-3-1.html). 29 Sep. 2011.

Nestmann, Mark. “Austria Restricts Gold Purchases…NOT.” Mark Nestmann’s Preserving Your Privacy & Wealth. 29 Sep. 2011. (http://nestmann.sovereignsociety.com/2011/09/29/austria-restricts-gold-purchases%E2%80%A6not/). 29 Sep. 2011.