The Centre on Saturday said the second phase of the mandatory hallmarking vide Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts (Amendment) Order, 2022 will come into force from June 01, 2022.
As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the second phase of the mandatory hallmarking will cover additional three caratages of gold jewellery/artefacts viz.20, 23, and 24 carats as mentioned in the Indian Standard IS 1417 and 32 new districts under the mandatory hallmarking regime wherein an AHC has been setup post-implementation of the first phase of the mandatory hallmarking order.
Earlier, on April 4, the government notified the order.
Notably, BIS has successfully implemented the Mandatory Hallmarking by the Bureau of Indian Standards in 256 districts of the country with effect from 23 June 2021, wherein more than 3 lakh gold articles are being hallmarked with HUID every day.
The ministry highlights that 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 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHC).
Further, 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," the ministry said.
However, there will be charges for testing the gold jewellery for up to 4 articles to the tune of ₹200. The charges will be ₹45 per article on 5 or more articles.
The authenticity and purity of the hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID number, purchased by the consumer, can also be verified by using ‘verify HUID’ in the BIS CARE app which can be downloaded from the play store.
