Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said that Jewellers can sell only hallmarked jewellery and artefacts made of 14, 18 and 22 carat gold from January 15, 2021. He also said violation of this will attract penalty and imprisonment of one year. Jewellers have been given one year time to register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and implement the mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery to ensure purity of the precious metal.
Consumers have to watch out for four marks on hallmarked gold jewellery: BIS mark, purity in carat, assay centre’s name and jewellers’ identification mark. A notification to make mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery from January 15, 2021 will be issued on January 16 by the Consumer Affairs Ministry. Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present. The BIS is already running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000 and around 40% of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.
The minister said instead of ten grades earlier, hallmarked gold jewellery will now be available in three grades of 14 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat. At present, there are 892 assaying and hallmarking centres in 234 district locations, and 28,849 jewellers have taken BIS registration. He also said that mandatory hallmarking will protect the public against lower caratage and ensure consumers do not get cheated while buying gold ornaments and get the purity as marked on the ornaments.
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