Jammu: A meeting of the Executive Committee of Sarafa Association Jammu Province (SAJP) was held today to discuss the new hallmarking rules that will be implemented from 1st April 2023. Raman Suri President, Rakesh Mahajan Sr. Vice President, Deepak Jain Vice President, Vijay Kumar Verma General Secretary, Sumit Handa Secretary, Surinder Kumar Jain Treasurer, Advisors Vijay Saraf, Ajay Talla, Darshan Lal Dhalla, Sanjay Jain, Chaman Lal Khajuria and Rajesh Sawhney, and Executive Members Ankur Suri, Aman Jain, Jugal Kishore Babbar, Vishal Jain and Rajiv Jain attended the meeting.
This meeting was held after SAJP President, General Secretary and Secretary attended the Jewellers Awareness Program organised on 27th March 2023 at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Jammu & Kashmir Branch Office (JKBO) headed by Sh. Tilak Raj Director JKBO. The program focussed on the new hallmarking rules pertaining to HUID and presentation regarding the same was given by Hitesh Yadav Assistant Director JKBO. The entire program was coordinated by Ambuj Tiwari Hallmarking Coordinator JKBO.
The meeting of SAJP today was aimed at discussing ways to increase awareness among the jewellers regarding the new rules and the best practices to adopt in order to follow those rules properly since jewellers, being responsible citizens, have always supported government’s decisions and expect the same support from government and BIS in reciprocity. It was decided that small-group meetings will be held with fellow jewellers and awareness will be spread along with resolving any queries or issues.
President Raman Suri, who is also Executive Member Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J&K, asked Jewellers to adhere to the BIS norms from April 1st this year, by Hallmarking all gold jewellery and related items and come at par with the global standards to win faith of customers and also contribute in nation building.
Raman Suri said, the Union Government gave ample time to Jewellers to adhere to the BIS standards and now, from 1st April 2023, all Gold Jewellery and artefacts will have to carry a mandatory six-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID). This will ensure quality standards and bring the Indian Jewellery Industry in line with global standards.
He informed that presently, jewellery items (without HUID) with the old four hallmark marks as well as ones with the new six-digit HUID, both can be sold, but from 1st April, only the hallmarked jewellery with six-digit HUID will be allowed for sale and those violating the rules will be penalised five times the cost of the object or imprisoned for up to one year. BIS marking, he added, will enhance the credibility of the jewellery and lead to customer satisfaction because purity of gold will be assured in the future and consumer’s rights will be protected.
Raman Suri said that India uses the BIS Hallmark System for certifying gold jewellery to establish the purity of the metal and we all must adhere to the norms to make a mark in the international market. He said that since Hallmark lends credibility to the purity of the jewellery and also helps in maintaining the legal standards of fineness and purity, we all must adhere to the rules set forth by the Government.
The six-digit HUID number was introduced on 1st July 2021 and was implemented in phases. In the first phase, it became mandatory in 256 districts; additionally, 32 and 51 districts were added in the second and third phase respectively, thus bringing up the total tally to 339 districts. To facilitate the marking, there are about 1374 BIS-recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres in India. He further said, all norms must be followed from the very beginning i.e., April 1st, thus bringing an end to the old practices.
