Gold hallmarking is now required as from today | Everything you need to know

New Delhi: From Tuesday, gold and artefact hallmarking will be required in India. Following the lockdown in several parts of the country, the earlier deadline of June 1 was extended by two weeks.

To ensure the purity of the precious metal, the new regulation requires gold jewellery to be hallmarked before it is stored or sold.

This implies that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has the authority to take coercive action or impose penalties on jewellers across India who fail to comply with BIA (BIS Act, 2016) regulations, Section 29(2) on mandatory hallmarking due to a lack of adequate infrastructure in terms of assaying and hallmarking centres.

•Gold hallmarking is a form of precious metal purity certification that is currently voluntary. Since April 2000, the BIS has been operating a gold jewellery hallmarking scheme, with approximately 40% of gold jewellery currently being hallmarked.

•The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has developed hallmarking standards for gold jewellery in three grades: 14 karat, 18 karats, and 22 karats. Only these three grades are now available in jewellery stores.

•14 karat gold is 58.5 per cent gold, 18 karat gold is 75% gold, and 22 karat gold is 91.6 per cent gold.

• After registration, 24 karat gold containing more than 99.5 per cent gold may be sold as billions.

•The registration process has been automated and made available online.

•Under the BIS Act, which was passed last year, there is a provision for a fine of at least Rs 1 lakh and up to five times the value of the article, as well as one year in jail if the items sold do not bear the hallmark.

•Currently, there are 877 assaying and hallmarking centres in 234 district locations, and 26,019 jewellers have registered with BIS.

•However, the hallmark rule will not affect the sale of old jewellery.