Jewellerswanthallmarkingofgolddeferred

The All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) has written to the Department of Consumer Affairs, urging them to defer the implementation of mandatory gold hallmarking by a year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and lack of infrastructure.

The current deadline for the implementation of the scheme is Jun 1.

The government has mandated that jewellers will be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery and artefacts from Jun 1.

It had extended the earlier deadline of Jan 15 by six months due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.

The council said that the country lacks proper infrastructure to implement mandatory hallmarking, with assaying and hallmarking centres only available in 33% of India's districts. out of the 733 districts in the country have the Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) Centres

A&H Centre in each district should be ensured, GJC has urged the BIS for

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"There are various operational and procedural issues in relation to implementation of the mandatory requirement, which if unaddressed will create an obstacle for compliance of the hallmarking requirements," said Ashish Pethe, chairman of GJC.

Pethe added that the implementation of mandatory hallmarking will severely affect the industry and lead to cessation of business, loss of livelihood and litigation.

At a virtual press conference last week, Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan had said, "No extension has been sought. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) is already fully energised and involved in giving approvals to jewellers for hallmarking".

Hallmarking is a purity certification for gold and silver, and is currently voluntary.

Jewellers said that around 40% of gold jewellery has been hallmarked so far. India's demand for gold fell by 35% to a 25-year low of 446.4 tn in 2020, according to the World Gold Council.