Gold jewellery hallmarking to be mandatory
NEW DELHI: The government is planning to make hallmarking along with carat count mandatory for the gold jewellery sold in the country, Food and Consumers Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday.
“At present people don’t get to know quality of gold jewellery that they buy. We are planning to make hallmark for gold jewellery mandatory. It should be done by January,” Paswan told reporters at an event organised by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
He said BIS mark is used on some jewellery but that does not sufficiently convey quality of jewellery to consumers.
Under the proposed rules hallmark will also mention the carat of gold used the jewellery, Paswan said. “It will be done for jewellery in three categories — 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat,” he said.
NEW DELHI: With the objective to curb unethical trade practices in bullion market, the government has decided to make the Hallmark certification mandatory for all gold jewellery sold in the country from next year.
“All gold products have to have the Hallmark certification from January next year. As most Indians understand purity of gold in terms of karat, gold ornaments bear not just the 916 mark but also karat value too,” Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting to mark World Standards Day here on Friday.
Asking the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) officials to have regulations in place by January for the smooth implementation of the scheme, the minister said, “Gold sold in the country would be of three categories only --- 14, 18 and 22 karat. There should be no unethical practice in bullion trade.”
Paswan also laid special emphasis on the consumer protection that would get enhanced through new Consumer Protection and the BIS Act.
Releasing a pre standardisation report regarding unified, secure & resilient ICT backbone for Smart Cities, Paswan said, “Building a smart city is a highly complex task having its own challenges and standards are the only common denominator that can simplify this task.”
The minister further added, “National standards make the Smart Cities work safely and smoothly. Besides, it provides important guidance for all aspects of city life, including energy-efficient buildings, intelligent transportation, and improved waste management, thereby builds sustainable communities.”
The move would enable customers to understand easily the purity of gold, which they purchase.
“One the rule comes into force, no jeweller would be allowed to sell 21 karat gold with a price of 22 karat gold jewellery. The government is much aware of wrong practices by jewellers, so the move is very much required for the projection of consumers.”
“The government has also plans to change jewellers’ logo along with the hallmark logo as it’s very difficult to identify jewellers currently, which are having codes like AJ, KJ and MJ. Instead of these jewellery codes, alpha numeric codes which are given for the jewellers’ licenses would be hallmarked to identify the shop owner,” a senior official said, adding that the jeweller would have to provide a “plain marking area” with a width of one mm and length of 10 mm.
Present on the occasion, Paswan’s junior minister CR Chaudhary, emphasised on the importance of standards for international cooperation. Chaudhary stated that standards provide practical tools for tackling many of today’s global challenges, ranging from managing resources to improving the safety and quality of the life.