From Ashutosh Mishra: The sale of gold jewelry and gold artifacts marked without a six-digit alphanumeric HUID – unique identification number – will no longer be allowed from April 1, the government said. The Bureau of India Standards (BIS) has banned the sale of hallmarked gold jewelry or gold artifacts without a 6-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID) after March 31, 2023.
The Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number is a six-digit alphanumeric code made up of numbers and letters.
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“The sale of hallmarked gold jewelry or gold artifacts without a 6-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID) is to be banned after March 31, 2023,” said Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, Consumer Affairs on Gold Hallmarking.
MOVE TO AVOID CONFUSION
This move aims to protect consumers and increase their confidence in buying hallmarked gold jewelry with traceability and quality assurance, says the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal chaired a meeting on Friday to review the activities of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The gold hallmark is a certificate of purity of the precious metal. It was voluntary in nature until June 16, 2021.
Until today, the jewelers were also allowed to sell the old hallmarked jewelry with four marks without HUID together with the 6-digit HUID mark. More than a year and 9 months were given to jewelers to clear their inventory of their 4 digit hallmarked items.
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However, the simultaneous sale of two types of hallmarked jewelry by jewelers caused confusion among the common consumer.
Several rounds of consultations were held with all stakeholders, including jewellers, on BIS at meetings in the Eastern, Southern and Western regions. Also the Department of Consumer Protection held a meeting with all stakeholders on January 18, 2023 on this topic.
It is further clarified that the sale of hallmarked gold jewelery or gold artifacts without a 6-digit alphanumeric HUID will not be permitted after March 31, 2023 to protect and protect consumers and increase their confidence in purchasing hallmarked gold jewelery with traceability and security to strengthen quality.
HOW CAN CUSTOMERS CHECK ARMORED JEWELERY?
A consumer can verify and authenticate hallmarked gold jewelry with a HUID number using “Verify HUID” in the BIS CARE app, available for both Android and iOS. It contains information about the jeweler who hallmarked the item, their registration number, the clarity of the item, the type of item, and details of the hallmarking authority that examined and hallmarked the item.
Using this information, a regular consumer can verify the item being purchased by matching it to both the item type and its purity.
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Hallmarked pieces of jewelry that are with the consumer according to the old regulations remain valid. Pursuant to Section 49 of the BIS Rules 2018, where hallmarked jewelery purchased by the consumer is found to be of lesser clarity than that marked on the jewelery due to lack of clarity, the buyer/customer is entitled to compensation of twice the difference charged for the weight of the item sold and inspection fees.
Before the introduction of the 6-digit Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number, the hallmarking of gold jewelery consisted of 4 logos, namely the BIS logo, the purity of the item, and the logo of the jeweler and the Assaying and Hallmarking Center.
The 6 digit HUID was introduced from July 1st, 2021 and all items hallmarked after July 1st, 2021 only need to be hallmarked with HUID.
After the introduction of HUID, the branding consisted of 3 marks, namely BIS logo, purity of the article and six-digit alphanumeric HUID. Each tagged item has a unique HUID number that is traceable.
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