Tamil Nadu jewellers to protest against govt's decision to make Hallmarking Unique ID mandatory on gold jewellery

Chennai jewellers will hold a protest on Monday against the government's decision to make Hallmarking Unique ID mandatory on gold jewellery.

Chennai Jewellers Association questioned how privacy would be maintained if the HUID is in place.

Speaking to ANI, Chennai Jewellers Association Chief Uday Vummidi said, "We will protest as we face inconvenience in the process of HUID. We promote hallmarking as it signifies purity. However, HUID signifies traceability. Who is selling the product and who is buying the product...all will be recorded. The end customer becomes a part of the process. Buying gold is a culture in India. You cannot be asking all customers that give your phone number, valid id, etc."

"If we collect this information, we must be ensured that the privacy of a customer is maintained properly. With the ongoing Pegasus row, we also think about the privacy of our customers. I want the government to assure us that the privacy of the data will be maintained," said Vummidi.

Another jeweller told ANI, "We wish to draw the attention of the government on this pressing issue. We are not against hallmarking. We are against HUID. We are scared about customers' privacy. Also, currently the new marking system i.e., HUID is taking almost 5 to 10 days to hallmark the products, resulting in further problems."

The Hallmarking of jewellery/artefacts has been required to enhance the credibility of gold Jewellery and Customer satisfaction through third-party assurance for the marked purity/fineness of gold, consumer protection. This step will also help to develop India as a leading gold market centre in the world.

Director-General, Bureau of Indian Standards on June 16 said, "It was clarified that old unhallmarked jewellery available in households can be sold to jewellers. Jewellers can continue to buy back old gold jewellery without hallmark from consumer and in order to give adequate time to the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of Gold Jewellery, there would be no penalties till August end."

The Bureau of Indian Standards had addressed a virtual press conference and briefed the media persons about the Mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery scheme that came into force from June 16, 2021.

DG, BIS while addressing the facets of Mandatory Hallmarking shared that mandatory hallmarking has initially started with 256 districts of the country, which have Assaying and hallmarking centres. He further added that Jewellers with annual turnover upto Rs 40 lakh will be exempted from mandatory Hallmarking. Export and re-import of jewellery as per Trade Policy of Government of India - Jewellery for international exhibitions, jewellery for government approved B2B domestic exhibitions will also be exempted from mandatory Hallmarking. Watches, fountain pens and special types of jewellery viz. Kundan, Polki and Jadau will be exempted from Hall Marking.

( With inputs from ANI )