Ministry Calls For Compulsory Hallmarking of Gold and Silver Jewellery

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The government announcement to make hallmarking of gold and silver jewellery mandatory is expected soon. According to source, the government ministry is in the process of giving final touches to the policy. The hallmarking will be made compulsory for 14-carat, 18-carat and 22-carat gold and silver jewellery. In addition, it also proposes to allocate unique identification number for each piece of jewellery.

Earlier in June this year, the government had notified regulations for hallmarking of gold and silver jewellery. However, the final decision to implement the regulations was postponed for want of legal clarity by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

The hallmarking will be done by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) through its network of around 750 hallmarking and assaying centres across the country. Harshad Ajmera, president of Indian Association of Hallmarking Centers stated that the hallmarking centres are well-equipped to handle additional volume of work that may arise once the government announces the decision. Approximately 500 tons of jewellery was hallmarked in the country during the fiscal year 2017-’18, he added.

Meantime, small retailers have sought for more time. They demanded implementation of the same in a phased manner, starting with metropolitan cities.

The World Gold Council had recently launched Precious Metals Assay and Training Institute’ (PMATI) in Mumbai in partnership with MMTC-PAMP India Pvt. Ltd., with the aim of developing a young generation of skilled assayers by providing necessary training.