If you have unhallmarked old gold jewellery, you can check its purity.
The government has already made rules related to the sale of gold items such as jewellery. These rules aim to bring more transparency to the sale of gold items and ensure that customers are not cheated. From April 1 this year, all gold jewellery must have a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number. If you have old un-hallmarked gold jewellery, you need to get it hallmarked to sell or exchange in the retail market.
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What is HUID?
The Hallmark Unique Identification number on a gold artefact offers a distinct characteristic to the product. It also ensures that the gold item has the promised purity. The gold articles must have the purity mark, for example, 22-carat, and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) logo.
In India, at present two precious metals namely gold and silver have been brought under the purview of hallmarking.
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.
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What happens if you want to sell old un-hallmarked jewellery?
Gold jewellery without a hallmark cannot be sold. If you have old un-hallmarked gold ornaments to exchange or sell, you have to get them hallmarked with a HUID.
Do keep in mind that if your jewellery has already been etched with old/earlier hallmark signs, you need not go through the hallmarking process. In this case, gold without HUID will be accepted.
Apart from this, gold under two grams, jewellery meant for international exhibitions, any article meant for export which is set to the specific requirement of the foreign buyer, and fountain pens, watches or special types of ornaments are exempted from hallmarking.
Jewellers with an annual turnover of below Rs 40 lakh are also exempted from the process.
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How to get old gold jewellery hallmarked?
If you have unhallmarked old gold jewellery, you can check its purity. A common consumer can get the purity of their unhallmarked gold jewellery tested at any of the BIS recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs).
Customers can get the jewellery tested from any BIS-recognised hallmarking centre. The person will have to pay Rs 45 per article, in case the number of items to be tested is five or more. In case the consignment has four articles, the charge will be Rs 200.
You can also get their ornaments hallmarked through a jeweller registered with the BIS. The jeweller will take the item to the BIS Assaying and Hallmarking Centre for the process.
Gold purity test charges
The charges for testing of gold jewellery upto 4 articles is Rs 200. For 5 or more articles, the charges are Rs 45 per article.
After paying testing charges of Rs 200 to any of BIS recognised AH centres. The list of BIS recognised AH centres is available at BIS website www.bis.gov.in under the hallmarking tab.
Who needs to get the jewellery hallmarked?
In the chain of manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor and retailer, the responsibility to get the article hallmarked is on the one who makes the first point of sale. Thus hallmarking has to be done only once in the entire chain and it has to be done by the one who has made the first sale which may be manufacturer or wholesaler or distributor or retailer.
It is important to note that not all gold jewellery sold in India is hallmarked, and it is advisable to purchase jewellery only from reputable jewellers who sell hallmarked jewellery.
Prior to the introduction of the HUID number, hallmarking of gold jewellery consisted of four marks- BIS logo, purity of the articles as well as logo of jeweller and A&H Centre.
But the six-digit HUID hallmarking comprises only three marks- BIS logo, purity of the article and six-digit alphanumeric HUID.
