Hallmarking jewellery NOT mandatory after all.

Admittedly I am late on this news piece but I am sure its still news to many. Turns out the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has relaxed its earlier dictum of Mandatory Hallmarking till further notice. I have covered this hallmarking issue in my earlier posts here and here. Earlier the ministry had announced Dec 2007 as the deadline for non-complying jewellers. Beyond this date it was expected the govt would bar jewellers from selling any gold ornament without the prescribed 5 signs of hallmarking.

After a short lived battle with the Gems and Jewellery Federation(GJF), the ministry has relented and pushed the matter further into the future. GJF, the trade body had raised the issue of its implementation. Notably, the absence of enough assay centres throughout the country to warrant such a directive. There are only about 125 centres whereas the need is greater than 3000. In such acute shortage its not possible for a jeweller to run with gold ornaments from one town to another to get it certified.

Another issue was the high license fee of Rs.25,000, 15,000 and 10,000 a year for jewellers in metros, district headquarters and elsewhere respectively. The GJF wanted the fees to be valid for a period of 3 years.

Alternately, the some voices have demanded to be done with License Raj and adopt a Thailand like model. In thailand a jeweller has the right to sell any caratage of jewellery provided they mention on it. The govt. can then do a random check and subject a maximum punishment of 3 years of jail and shutting the shop. The trade body was amenable to this idea being adopted for India and thus not having to worry about setting up assay centres throughout the country.

Understandably, this is a lot more contentious issue than looks on the surface. What could have been done was to do it in a phased manner starting with the metros as originally planned.

The Retail Jeweller (magazine) sums our feeling on this:

" In a sudden turn of events while we at RJ had just about concluded the vainness of the efforts made so far by the trade and GJF - the ministry of consumer affairs anounced the postponement of compulsory hallmarking till further notice. "

So even while the govt and the trade body slug it out. We advice you to continue looking for the blue triangle.

Related article: Hallmarking rule 'deferred'

Related Posts:
Mandatory Hallmark from Jan 2008: The Fallout
Hallmark Mandatory from Jan 2008...Really?
What is Hallmark Jewellery?

(This article has been made possible with inputs from The Retail Jeweller)