Bureauof Indian Standards (BIS) have had three meetings with around 20-member ExpertCommittee from May 25 to 29, where they brainstormed all the elements that theindustry found impractical and needed amendments in the Regulations and theAct.
TheBIS team headed by Director General Pramod Tiwari principally agreed to a largemajority of the concerns and admitted to having the needful done so that it canbe implemented in a structured manner as required by the BIS legal procedures.He asked the industry to be patient and look forward to clarifications from BISin this regard.
OnJune 15, All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), along with theexpert committee of hallmarking had a detailed meeting with Union Minister ofConsumer Affairs Piyush Goyal and DG BIS Pramod Tiwari wherein many of the keyconcerns pertaining to Hallmarking regime were discussed and agreed upon, whilemandatory Hallmarking was being implemented w.e.f. June 16.
The key issuesconcerns discussed and agreed upon were related to:
1.Mandatory Hallmarking to be rolled out in 256 districts.
2.Fee and process of registration,
3.Applicability of hallmarking,
4.Allowance of additional karatages,
5.Time for disposal of old stock & its Hallmarking,
6.Time to be given to the industry till September 1, 2021 to adjust to the newlaw
7.Application of HUID to be restricted to AHCs,
8.Dilution of penal provisions and Search and Seizure provisions,
However,there has been only one order released from the BIS on June 24, which coversjust a few of the agreed points.
NitinKhandelwal, Past Chairman, GJC, said, "There is a huge unrest in theindustry. The Hallmarking has been made mandatory since 16th June 2021, andtill today, there is no clarity on important aspects. Honourable Ministerduring the meeting on 15th June had confirmed that HUID would only berestricted to Hallmarking centres, and not on jewellers, however, there stillseems no clarity on this as the process as it still involves jewellers incertain elements of HUID.
"Weare still facing problems and cannot get our jewellery Hallmarked anywhere.Along with earlier approved 3 karatages, 20, 23 and 24 k were also agreed bythe Minister and DG BIS, this has not been made part of the order released byBIS while a Gazette is being awaited. There has also been a lot of webinarsbeing conducted by BIS to enforce a new HUID process that is being imposed uponjewellers via the Hallmarking centre route. There is still no clarity of howthe Mandatory Hallmarking regime will work outside the 256 districts. There isa huge disconnect in what was agreed upon by the Minister and what is presentedto the industry."
SaiyamMehra, Vice Chairman, GJC, added, "The applicability of hallmarkingcontinues to loom the dark clouds of uncertainty in the industry. Thewholesalers and manufacturers who generally stock jewellery in thousands areunable to get their jewellery hallmarked as the hallmarking centres under thecurrent procedure of hallmarking are not able to give required output.
"Thenew HUID process being implemented may take weeks or months to get jewelleryhallmarked. The industry has still not received any official clarity on thestatus for their old stock in trade. Hence, we humbly request the HonourableMinister to kindly intervene and look into the pending matters onpriority."
Duringthe meeting on June 15, it was conveyed that the jeweller was allowed to selltheir existing non hallmarked stock till August 30, 2021 which was alsoconveyed via press release from the Ministry, however all these importantconcerns are missing in the order and thus has created a scenario of unrest andpanic amongst the entire Industry.