Mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery has come into force from June 16, according to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, BIS, said mandatory hallmarking has initially been launched in 256 districts of the country, which have assaying and hallmarking centres.
He further added that jewellers with annual turnover upto Rs 40 lakh will be exempted from mandatory hallmarking.
Export and re-import of jewellery as per the trade policy of the government, as well as jewellery for international exhibitions and government-approved B2B domestic exhibitions will also be exempt.
Watches, fountain pens and special types of jewellery viz. kundan, polki and jadau will be exempted from hallmarking.
Registration of jewellers will be one-time and there will be no fees charged for registration.
Any manufacturer, importer, wholesaler, distributor or retailer engaged in selling precious metal articles has to mandatorily get registered with BIS.
However, artisans or manufacturers who are manufacturing gold jewellery on job-work basis for the jewellers and are not directly related to sale are exempted for registration.
Hallmark shall be done at the first point of sale, which may be the manufacturer, whole-seller, distributor or retailer.
Alteration in hallmarked jewellery up to 2 grams of increase or decrease will be allowed with responsibility of purity on the jeweller.
“There has always been a high demand from jewellers to increase the grades of gold purity for hallmarking. Considering this, gold of additional carats i.e. 20, 23 and 24 will also be allowed for hallmarking,” Tiwari said.