Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has prohibited the sale of hallmarked gold jewellery or gold artifacts without Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID) after 31st March 2023.
Key points
- Hallmarking of Gold jewellery is done as per Indian Standards specified in IS 1417: 2016 with 3 symbols.
- HUID is a unique 6-digit alphanumeric code given to every piece of jewellery to enable traceability.
- Hallmarked jewellery lying with consumers as per old schemes shall remain valid.
- As per section 49 of BIS Rules, 2018 in case Hallmarked Jewellery bought by the consumer is found to be of lesser purity than that marked on jewellery, then the buyer/customer shall be entitled for compensation which shall be two times the amount of difference calculated on the basis of shortage of purity for the weight of such article sold and the testing charges.
- Hallmarking scheme for hallmarking of Jewelry was started by BIS in the year 2000. However, Mandatory Hallmarking has been successfully implemented in 288 districts of the country with effect from 23 June 2021 vide Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts Order, 2022, and its amendment dated 04 March,2022 .
- 6 digit HUID was introduced from 01 July 2021 and all articles hallmarked post 01 July 2021 have to be hallmarked with HUID only.
- After introduction of HUID, hallmark consisted of 3 marks viz, BIS logo, purity of the article and six-digit alphanumeric HUID. Each hallmarked article has unique HUID number which is traceable.
- A consumer can check and authenticate hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID number using ‘verify HUID’ in BIS CARE app which is available in both android as well as iOS.
