New Delhi (NVI): Hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will be mandatory from 15th January, 2020 across India, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan announced yesterday.
While addressing the press conference, Paswan said that hallmarking of gold jewellery are artefacts is being made mandatory in India for which a notification will be issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs and a period of one year will be given for implementation to ensure that new assaying and hallmarking centres will be set up by private entrepreneurs at locations where demand of gold jewellery and artefacts arises.
“In order to clear their existing product, the jewellers will be provided a period of one year for implementation of the said decision,”he said.
“Hallmarking will benefit the poor people in villages and small towns who are not able to make out the purity of gold they have been buying,” he added.
The Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 has enabling provisions under Section 14 and Section 16 for making hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts mandatory by the Central Government.
This will make it compulsory for all the jewellers selling gold jewellery and artefacts to register with BIS and sell only hallmarked Gold jewellery and artefacts.
The draft Quality Control Order for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts has been hosted on WTO website on 10th October 2019 for comments for a period of 60 days.
The BIS Act 2016 has been implemented with effect from 12th October 2017 and BIS Hallmarking Regulations 2018 notified with effect from 14-6-2018.
BIS has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. As on 31st October 2019 there are 877 Assaying and hallmarking centres spread in 234 district locations across the country and so far 26,019 jewellers have taken BIS registration.
-sb
