Gold Hallmarking Mandatory: Here's Everything You Need to Know About New Rule

After multiple extension of the implementation deadline, hallmarking of gold jewellery and other gold item has become mandatory from June 15. The government had initially set a deadline of January 15, 2021, for the implementation of the mandatory hallmarking rule but it was extended till June 1 and later till June 15 after jewellers demanded more time in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the new set of new guidelines issued by the Central Government, jewellers across the country can sell only Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certified products. A committee headed by BIS Director-General Pramod Tiwari has been set up by the government to ensure proper implementation of this rule.

Here’s everything you need to know about this new rule:

• Gold hallmarking is a purity certificate of the precious metal.
• From June 15, 2021, jewellers will be able to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery and other artefacts. If a jeweller is found selling gold without BIS hallmark, he could be penalised five times the price of the product or could even face imprisonment of up to 1 year.
• The registration for BIS certification has been made online and simple.
• Though BIS has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold since April 200, the exercise has been voluntary so far.
• The aim of this move to make hallmarking compulsory is to ensure that customers are not cheated while buying gold products. This will also bring the Indian gold market in line with the global market standards.
• To ensure that the hallmarking is authentic, look for purity in carat and fitness, the BIS mark, the identification mark or the number of hallmarking centres, and the jeweller’s identity mark or number.
• Currently, there are 892 hallmarking centres across 234 districts in the country that hallmark gold of 28, 849 BIS registered jewellers.
• However, only around 40 per cent of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.
• This rule of hallmarking is currently implemented for jewellers and common customers can still sell their old gold jewellery without hallmark certification.

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