Roopali Assayers & Hallmarkers

FAQ's ON HALLMARKING OF GOLD

Q. 1 What is Hallmarking?

A. Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal in gold. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of gold jewellery.

Q. 2 What are the objectives behind instituting Hallmarking Scheme?

A. To protect consumer against victimization due to irregular gold quality, develop India as a leading gold market centre in the World and to develop export competitiveness

Q. 3 What are the benefits to Customer?

A Provide third party assurance and satisfaction that customer gets right purity of gold for the given price (value for money).

Q. 4 How will the jewellers benefits?

A. It will provide clear indication of his capability, strong evidence of commitment to quality and assurance of consistency in purity and quality of gold jewellery.

Q. 5 Who operates the Hallmarking Scheme?

A. It is a voluntary scheme being operated by BIS under the BIS Act 1986. As per this scheme the licence is granted to a jeweller for certification of purity of gold jewellery in accordance with IS 1417. BIS is operating the scheme through its network of Regional/ Branch Offices all over the country. A licensee jeweller has to go to get the jewellery hallmarked through any of the recognized Assaying and hallmarking centres (see list of assaying centres at www.bis.org.in under Hallmarking of gold).

Q. 6 What is the procedure for Grant of Licence to Jewellers?

A. To get BIS certification, jeweller needs to apply to the nearest Branch office of BIS in the prescribed application form along with necessary documents and fees for obtaining a licence. Application Form with details of documents to be submitted and fees applicable are available on BIS website. After grant of licence, he is to get the Jewellery hallmarked from a BIS recognized Assaying & Hallmarking Centre. It is the prime responsibilty of the licence holder to ensure declared fineness and homogeneity of jewellery offered for hallmarking. List of BIS licensed Jewellers is also available on BIS website.

Q. 7 What is the procedure for Grant of Recognition to Hallmarking Centres?

A. The recognition of the Hallmarking Centre is done by BIS after ensuring that the Hallmarking Centre follows BIS guidelines which are in line with international norms for sampling and testing and also have adequate Test Facilities as per IS 1418, trained and competent manpower. Detailed requirements are available on BIS website. The list of BIS recognized assaying and hallmarking centres is hosted on BIS website.

Q. 8 What control BIS has on jewellers and Assaying and Hallmarking Centres?

A. Regular surveillance audit of Assaying and hallmarking centres and testing of random market samples of jewellers is carried out. Renewal of recognition of hallmarking centres and jewellers is based on performance every three years . If any jeweller or assaying and hallmarking centre is not found conforming to the requirements, action is taken as per laid down procedure so that credibility of scheme is maintained.

Q. 9 What one should look for in an Hallmarked item?

A. Hallmark consists of following

i) BIS Logo

ii) Purity/fineness Mark (it can be any one of the following )



958

Corresponds to 23 Carat

916

Corresponds to 22 Carat

875

Corresponds to 21 Carat

750

Corresponds to 18 Carat

585

Corresponds to 14 Carat

375

Corresponds to 9 Carat

iii) Hallmarking Centre’s Mark/logo (one of the logos as displayed on BIS website)

iv) Jeweller’s Mark/logo

v) Year of Marking – denoted by a code letter e.g.

‘A’ for year 2000                    ‘B’ for year 2001

‘C’ for year 2002                    ‘D’ for year 2003

‘E’ for year 2004                     ‘F’ for year 2005

‘G’ for year 2006                     ‘H’ for year 2007

Q. 10 What is the progress of the scheme during the last 5 years

A. Following is the progress of the scheme since launch:

Growth

31 Mar 2001

31 Mar. 2002

31 Mar. 2003

31 Mar. 2004

31 Mar. 2005

As on 31 Jan.

2006

No. of Licences

186

286

560

795

935

1112

No. of Centres

8

12

13

15

24

34

Articles Hallmarked

(in lakhs)

0.936

4.766

14.93

31.4

62.4

95

Q. 11 How much does it cost to get an item hallmarked?

A BIS has fixed the following charges:

For articles weighing         (up to 20g)         Rs. 18/ per article

     (> 20g < 100g) Rs. 50/- per article

     (> 100g)              Rs. 100/- per article

Minimum charges for a lot shall be Rs. 300/- .

(Services Tax and other levies as applicable shall be extra).

Q. 12 What initiatives have been taken by BIS to encourage Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery?

A. In order to make this scheme more attractive and affordable to the jewellers while protecting the interest of consumers, BIS has taken following initiatives:

Rationalization of BIS Gold/Silver Hallmarking Scheme

· Procedure for grant of licence and its operation has been simplified.

· Rationalization of certification fees for jewellers as below :

i)                    For Jewellers located in the four Metropolitan areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata &Chennai

·         Rs. 25,000/- for 3 years

ii)                  For Jewellers located in District Head Quarters

      ·         Rs. 20,000/- for 3 years

iii)       For Jewellers located in other than four metropolitan

            areas and District Headquarters

·          Rs. 10,000/- for 3 years

· The fees at i) and ii) can be paid in two installments within 6 months. The Service tax/cess shall be extra.

· The application cum processing fee for grant of licence shall be Rs.2000/- only.

· Jewellers certified for gold jewellery/artefacts, interested in hallmarking of silver articles also in the same premises will not have to pay any additional fees.

· The scheme has been implemented with effect from January 2006.

Awareness Campaign : BIS conducts consumer awareness programmes / Jewellers meet to increase awareness about the scheme. Publicity is also being done simultaneously through print and electronic media for spreading awareness.

Q. 13 What is the Role of Government of India?

A.

·      Govt. of India took cognizance of the need for protecting the public in its purchase of gold jewellery and the prevention of adulteration, be it deliberate or accidental. BIS was identified as the sole body to operate Hallmarking Scheme in India. BIS started Hallmarking Scheme in April 2000.

·         Government of India constituted a Committee in August 2003 to examine the ways and means of securing consumer interest in the marketing of gold products with Secretary (Consumer Affairs) as Chairman. The Committee comprises of representatives from BIS, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, RBI, India Govt. Mint, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, All India Sarafa Association, New Delhi, World Gold Council (WGC), MMTC, representative of a reputed Jeweller and Consumer Activists.

·         The broad terms of reference of the committee are:

o   To examine current practices in the purchase and sale of gold products and the desirability of standardization through Hallmarking; and

o   Whether such hallmarking can be made mandatory?

The Committee has met several times in the past and recommended as follows:

Ø To request Ministry of Finance for spending 1% of sale proceeds for confiscated gold on promotion /publicity of Hallmarking;

Ø To request Ministry of Finance to introduce small cess on import duty of gold to finance promotion of campaign of a Gold Hallmarking Scheme;

Ø Preference to Hallmarked jewellery for loans by banks;

Ø Abolishing of Service Tax for Assaying and Hallmarking centers;

Ø Exemption/reduction in import duty on equipment/instruments imported solely for assaying/hallmarking;

Ø Setting up of large number of Assaying and Hallmarking centers; and

Ø To launch a publicity campaign for promotion of Hallmarking amongst common consumers

Recent Major Initiatives of Govt. :

Ø Scheme for creating infrastructure for Assaying and Hallmarking of Gold with Central Assistance launched in 35 select districts for implementation in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Selected entrepreneurs to be given one time financial incentive of 15% of the cost of machinery and equipment subject to maximum of Rs.15 lakhs per centre.

Ø Effective Publicity Campaign has also been launched simultaneously through print and electronic media for consumer awareness.

Ø Govt. of India has also decided to make Gold Hallmarking mandatory from 1 January 2008.

Ø RBI Circular to Banks for Preferential treatment to Hallmarked Jewellery while granting Advances against Jewellery – November 2005 (hosted on BIS website)

Q. 14 Does BIS Scheme Cover hallmarking of Gold Medallions?

A. Till recently Medallions were not covered under hallmarking. However, gold medallions (of the shape of coins) of 995 fineness and below are being permitted to be hallmarked.

Q. 15 Does BIS permit hallmarking of Silver Jewellery/Artefacts?

A. BIS has launched hallmarking of Silver Jewellery/Artefacts in October 2005. First licence has been granted for the same in the state of Maharashtra. Details available on BIS website.