Gold Hallmarking to Become Mandatory in June This Year

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Indian government announced that mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will come into effect across the country starting June 1, 2021.

As per the announcement made in November 2019, the mandatory hallmarking was supposed to come into force from mid-January this year. However, the deadline was extended by a period of four months, following requests by the retail jewellers for more time in complying with the requirement, due to Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the government, mandatory hallmarking of gold and silver ornaments is aimed at protecting the consumer from irregular gold or silver quality. Henceforth, jewellers will be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery.

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The registration process has been made online, which ensures easy and fast process. The online portal allows for online application, documents submission and license issual, thus avoiding human interference in the entire system. So far, 34,647 jewellers across the country have already registered with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) - the agency responsible for certifying the purity of goods.

The BIS observed that the mandatory hallmarking will ensure that consumers are not cheated while purchasing gold ornaments.

No extension of implementation date has been sought, said Leena Nandan, Secretary-Consumer Affairs.