Not sure about any of that, but for sure the Belgians were importing military arms, sprucing them up a bit and passing them on to end users in the Khyber Pass and in the Congo. So the makers didn't want to undercut their bottom $; therefore, they didn't want to absorb the cost of proof and as always they wanted an out / an exception for arms imported & exported. Makers have from the Get-Go wanted exceptions on their behalf, which led to weaknesses in the Proof Law & in enforcement. The 1888 Rules were just that, which were a direct result of Court Cases pointing to the weakness in the Rules. By this time the makers were just beginning to see the value of Proof and for the most part the makers wholeheartedly supported the new rules. The Royal Decree of March 6th, 1889 was just that. It recognized foreign proof marks so that the makers could import old military arms, clean them, spruce them up and export them on to places like the Khyber Pass and the Congo. But still there was an exception to the Proof Law and it was this decree that allowed the makers to send their wares >>in the white<< to a foreign proof facility and bypass the Liège Proof Facility. I knew this exception existed as I had read it long ago, but just now stumbled up on it again.
Another neat provision was from the November 24th, 1885 Decree which mandated that 5% of the yearly profits of the Proof House was to be set aside for the Liège Arms Museum, which was actually proposed by a March 31st, 1859 Decree.
Serbus,
Raimey
rse
