Context: Recently the Central government allowed those jewellers to sell their old stock of gold jewellery or gold artefacts with old ‘four marks hallmarking’ till June 30, 2023, which they had declared prior to July 1, 2021—the date on which the 6-digit hallmarking ID (HUID) was introduced in the country.
About Hallmarking
- Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in the jewellery/artefacts or bullion/coins.
- Quality control order for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery/artefacts has been issued on 23 June 2021 by the Govt. of India which makes hallmarking mandatory in 256 districts of the country where there is at least one assaying and hallmarking centre.
- The Indian Standard on Gold Hallmarking IS 1417:2016 specifies three grades for hallmarking of gold jewellery/ artefacts which are 14 Carat, 18-carat and 22-carat.
- The same has been amended to include additional grades of 20 carats, 23 carats and 24 carats.
- Indian standard on silver hallmarking IS 2112: 2014 specifies six grades of silver alloys viz 990,970,925,900,835,800 used in the manufacture of jewellery/artefacts of silver.
- For hallmarking of gold bullion and coins of fineness 995 and 999 parts per thousand, a refinery or a mint obtains a license and applies a hallmark during the manufacturing. At present 44 refineries have taken licences from BIS for refining gold.
Coding of Hallmarked article
- The jeweller will submit the request for hallmarking online and the data for all the processes undertaken in the centre from inward receipt and weighing, XRF, Sampling, Fire assay and laser marking is maintained online and can be monitored on a real-time basis.
- At the end of the testing, a unique six-digit alphanumerical code is generated from the BIS server for each jewellery article and is laser marked by the assaying and hallmarking centre on the jewellery along with the BIS logo and purity mark.
- Earlier (Before 1 July 2021) hallmarked Jewellery consists of the following four marks:
With the introduction of a six-digit alphanumeric code from 1 July 2021, the four marks have now been replaced by three marks for gold jewellery/ artefacts as given below
Registration of Jeweller with BIS
- For hallmarking of jewellery, a jeweller who wants to sell hallmarked jewellery has to obtain a registration from BIS.
- The registration of the jeweller’s process has been made online.
- The registration of jewellers is free and valid for a lifetime.
- The registered jeweller submits the jewellery for hallmarking to BIS recognized Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) centre.
About Assaying & Hallmarking (A&H) centre.
- A&H centres are the testing centres where the jewellery is tested.
- After testing, the A&H centre applies a hallmark on the jewellery which is found to meet the requirement of the standard.
- The A&H centre can apply for recognition to BIS online.
- BIS has developed a digital solution wherein the entire workflow in the assaying and hallmarking centre is automated and made online.
- BIS also carries out periodic surveillance audits of the A&H centre to ascertain its continuation with the specified requirements.
