The government is preparing to make hallmarking of gold jewellery mandatory. Through this, only 14, 18 and 22-carat hallmark gold ornaments can be sold from next year. Apart from this, gold jewellery is currently available in 10 different grades. If we talk about this, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan said that this new system can come into effect from January 15, 2021. There will be a fine and punishment of up to one year for those who violate it. Notifications in this context will be released on Thursday.

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Apart from this, Paswan said that the jewelery vendors have been given one year to join this arrangement brought to ensure the quality of gold. At the same time, they can register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and make arrangements to implement the mandatory hallmarking system. He said that consumers have to take into consideration four symbols to identify gold. This includes the BIS mark, the purity in the carat, the name of the testing centre and the mark identifying the jewellers.

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At present, there are 892 gold testing centres at 234 locations in India. 28,849 jewellers are registered with BIS. Apart from this, Paswan informed that the government has targeted to open hallmark centres in each district. We will try to connect more and more jewellers with BIS during the time available to implement the new system. The awareness campaign will also be started soon for this. The Union Minister said that mandatory hallmarking can ensure consumers' interest and protect them from possible fraud. A top BIS official said that legal action will be taken against those who violate the rules of Hallmarking. Apart from this, fines of one lakh rupees or five times the cost of the jewelery will be charged from those who do not hallmark as per the rules. He may also face one year in jail.

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