Mandatory gold hallmarking to come into force from June 16

The Centre on Tuesday said mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will come into force from June 16 in a phased manner and initially will be implemented in 256 districts.

A decision in this regard was taken after a meeting chaired by Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal with industry stakeholders. In November 2019, the government had announced that hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be made mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021.

But the deadline was extended for four months till June 1 and later till June 15 after the jewellers sought more time in view of the pandemic.

Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present. "Mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery is going to come into force from tomorrow, June 16, 2021," Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan told PTI.

It will be implemented in a phased manner and initially in 256 districts of the country which have Assaying marking centres, she said adding that industry concerns were addressed in the meeting. Jewellers with annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh will be exempted from mandatory hallmarking, said a statement issued after the meeting.

From June 16, jewellers in 256 districts will be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery. The BIS has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. Around 40 per cent of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.