Centre notifies third phase of mandatory gold hallmarking in 16 states from today

The Centre on September 8 said the third phase of mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts has come into force in 55 new districts in 16 states and one Union territory.

''The third phase of the mandatory hallmarking will cover an additional 55 new districts under the mandatory hallmarking system, wherein a hallmarking centre has been setup post implementation of the second phase of the mandatory hallmarking order thereby making the total number of districts covered under mandatory hallmarking as 343,'' an official statement said. 

It further said that the state-wise list of newly added 55 districts under the mandatory hallmarking is available on the website of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), www.bis.gov.in under the hallmarking section.

According to the Consumer Affairs Ministry, an order for implementation of the third phase of the mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and gold artefacts was notified on September 8.

Eight districts, including East Champaran, will be covered in Bihar, five districts each in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, and four districts in Telangana under the third phase.

Three districts each will be covered in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, while two districts each in Assam, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

In Rajasthan, the mandatory gold hallmarking will be implemented in one district -- Jalore -- during the third phase.

BIS has been successful in the implementation of Mandatory Hallmarking in 256 districts of the country with effect from 23 June 2021, in the first phase and in the additional 32 districts with effect from 04 April 2022, in the second phase wherein more than 4 lakh gold articles are being hallmarked with HUID every day.

''Since the implementation of mandatory hallmarking, the number of registered jewellers has increased from 34,647 to 1, 81,590, while Assaying and Hallmarking Centers (AHCs) have increased from 945 to 1471. More than 26 crore articles of gold jewellery have been hallmarked with HUID so far,'' the statement added.

Consumers are encouraged to verify the authenticity and purity of the hallmarked gold jewellery items with the HUID number purchased by using ‘verify HUID’ in the BIS Care app which can be downloaded from the Play Store, it added.

''The number of downloads of the BIS Care App has increased from 2.3 lakhs during 2021-22 to 12.4 lakhs in the current FY. Further, more than one crore hits of ‘verify HUID’ in the BIS Care App have been recorded as of date in the span of last 2 years,'' the statement concluded.