Vietnam proposes new purity standards for gold jewellery

HANOI (Scrap Monster): The Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology has issued new instructions to gold traders and jewelers, proposing new purity standards for gold jewellery. The new instruction follows widespread complaints that gold businesses in the country were offering lower purity products to customers. The proposed standards will take effect this June.

According to the Ministry, the purity level of any gold jewellery designated as pure gold (24 k) must not be less than 99.9%. Also, 20k gold products must conform to more than 83.3% purity levels. 18K products are required to be 75% pure at minimum. The Ministry notification also states that 0.1% to 0.3% margin of error is permitted.

The Vietnam Gold Traders Association has welcomed the government decision, stating that it would lead to healthy competition among jewellers. The decision has come in rescue of big jewellers who had been badly affected by lowering of purity standards by small businesses to reduce prices. By lowering purity standards by 5%, a jeweller could earn at least VND 175,000, noted Nguyen Thanh Long, Chairman of the Association.

However, several members in the Association have demanded that the implementation of the rule be pushed until next year, so that they could get enough time to clear their existing stocks. Many pieces of jewellery currently in stores may fail to meet the new rules. The Association urged the Ministry to provide clear instructions as to what needs to be done with the current stocks.