Bihar Jewellers Federation wants implementation of new hallmarking rule to be extended

The All India Jewellers and Goldsmiths Federation (AIJGF), Bihar, has requested that the implementation of the new hallmarking rule to be extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, HT has learnt.

In letters addressed to Union telecommunication minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bihar’s industry minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad, the AIJGF has also requested to set up hallmarking centres in all the 38 districts of the state before the implementation of the new rules.

As per the new hallmarking rules, hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts, which is in fact the certification of the precious metals, will be mandatory and that the jewellers have to get themselves registered with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This hallmarking rule is to be effective from June 1st this year.

“But it needs to be deferred and be implemented from May 31, 2022,” Ashok Kumar Verma, convener, the AIJGF, Bihar, said.

Many jewellers in the state have not prepared for hallmarking which will be mandatory once the new rules would be made effective. Violation of this rule will incur severe punishment and imprisonment in some cases, he added.

“But where is the facility to get prepared for the new rules? In our state, there are only five hallmarking centres. What will be the situation with the jewellers located in other areas? During the lockdown, how can they travel to the hallmarking centre located in other districts?” he asked.

The infrastructure for the implementation of the new rules is yet to be developed. First, the hallmarking centre should be developed in every district to stop any violation of the rule, he added.

“All the ministers have assured that the AIJGF’s request and demand would be forwarded to Union minister of commerce and industries, Piyush Goyal. Earlier also, he considered the requests made by the Confederation of All India Traders. In fact, the hallmarking rule was to be implemented from January 2021 and considering the status of the pandemic, the Confederation requested to extend the implementation to June 2021. Let’s see how he responds to our requests now,” he said.

Dhananjay Roy, a jeweller from Bari Path in the state capital, said lots of preparations need to be made on part of the jewellers and from the government’s side as well. “In the current situation, a jeweller based on the Indo-Nepal borders will have to travel to the state capital to get the certificate of purity which is quite difficult during the lockdown. Then he will have to wait for the certificate at the laboratory to check the purity of the precious metals located at few places in the country like in Bangalore and Kolkata,” he said. These are the basic practical problems and things that need to be addressed at the ground level, he added.