Second phase of mandatory gold hallmarking to be implemented from June 1

The government on Saturday said the second phase of mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will come into force from June 1 this year.

Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and was voluntary in nature till June 16, 2021, when the government decided to implement mandatory gold hallmarking in a phased manner. In the first phase, 256 districts of the country were covered.

The second phase of the mandatory hallmarking, the consumer Affairs Ministry said, will cover additional three caratages of gold jewellery/artefacts (ie 20, 23 and 24 carats) and 32 new districts, wherein an Assaying and Hallmarking Centre has been set up post-implementation of the first phase.

The Centre has notified the order in this regard and will come into force from June 1, 2022, the ministry said in a statement.

Nodal agency Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has successfully implemented the mandatory gold hallmarking in 256 districts of the country with effect from 23 June 2021, wherein more than 3 lakh gold articles are being hallmarked with Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) every day, it added.

Further, the ministry said the BIS has made a provision to allow a common consumer to get the purity of their unhallmarked gold jewellery tested at any of the BIS recognized AHCs.

The AHC will undertake the testing of gold jewellery from common consumers on priority and provide a test report to the consumer. The test report issued to the consumer will assure the consumer about the purity of their jewellery and will also be useful if the consumer wishes to sell the jewellery lying with him, it said.

The charge for testing gold jewellery up to 4 articles is Rs 200. For 5 or more articles, the charges are Rs 45 per article, it added.

The authenticity and purity of the hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID number, purchased by consumers, can also be verified by using 'verify HUID' in the BIS CARE app which can be downloaded from the play store, it added.

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