Gold hallmarking mandatory from June 1: Here's what you need to know

Mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will kick in from June 1, 2021, the government has said.

The Centre in November 2019 announced that hallmarking of gold jewellery would be mandatory from January 15, 2021 but the deadline was extended to June 1 after jewellers requested more time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read: Mandatory hallmarking of gold: Should you be worried about your uncertified jewellery?

"No extension has been sought. BIS is already fully energised and involved in giving approvals to jewellers for hallmarking," Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan said.

Here's everything you need to know:

> Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary at present.

> Mandatory hallmarking means that jewellers will now be able to sell only hallmark certified 14-, 18- and 22-carat gold jewellery.

> A hallmark has the following components: the BIS Mark, purity in carats and fineness, assaying/hallmarking centre’s identification mark/number and jeweller’s identification mark/number.

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> For 22-carat jewellery, 22K will be marked in addition to 916, for 18-carat jewellery, 18K will be marked in addition to 750, and for 14-carat jewellery, 14K will be marked in addition to 585.

> Bullion gold such as bars and coins are excluded from mandatory hallmarking. Jewellery weighing less than two grams is also excluded.

> Hallmarking has been made mandatory is to ensure that consumers are not cheated and get the purity as marked on the ornaments, the government.

> BIS (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018 were notified w.e.f. 14.06.2018. The hallmarking scheme was implemented since April 2000.

> The BIS Act 2016 has provisions under Section 14 & Section 16 for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery & artefacts by the government. This will make it compulsory for all the jewellers selling gold jewellery and artefacts to register with BIS & sell only hallmarked products.

> There are 892 Assaying and Hallmarking centres in 234 districts across the country as of December 31, 2019.

> So far, 34,647 jewellers have registered with the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).