You will not be able to buy this type of gold jewellery from April 1, 2023

The sale of hallmarked gold jewellery or gold artefacts without a 6-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification Number (HUID) is prohibited by the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) after March 31, 2023. This action aims to safeguard consumers and increase their trust in purchasing hallmarked gold jewellery with traceability and confirmation of quality.

Jewelers were allowed to sell both the 6 digit HUID mark and old hallmarked jewellery with four marks but no HUID till now. Gold jewellery hallmarking consisted of four logos: the BIS logo, the purity of the article, the jeweller's logo, and the Assaying and Hallmarking Centre's logo.

According to the PIB release dated March 4, 2023, “ It is further clarified that sale of hallmarked gold jewelry or gold artefacts without 6 digit alphanumeric HUID shall not be permitted after 31st March 2023 in order to safeguard and protect the consumers and enhance their confidence in purchase of hallmarked gold jewelry with traceability and assurance of quality.



What is hallmarking?
Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the precious metal composition of jewellry/artefacts or bullion/coins. The government issued a quality control order for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewelry/artefacts on June 23, 2021.

Read more: What is Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number in gold jewellery

Charges of gold hallmarking
The charges for testing of gold jewellery up to 4 articles is Rs 200. For 5 or more articles, the charges are Rs 45 per article, according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution PIB release dated March 11, 2022.

HUID details
The six-digit HUID was introduced on July 1, 2021, and any items hallmarked after that date must be hallmarked with the HUID exclusively. The BIS emblem, the purity of the item, and the six-digit alphanumeric HUID were the three marks that made up the hallmark after the introduction of HUID. Each item that has been hallmarked has a distinct, trackable HUID number.

How to verify HUID
Consumers can verify and validate hallmarked gold jewellery items with HUID numbers by using the'verify HUID' feature in the BIS CARE app, which is available for both Android and iOS.

The details include the jeweller who had the article hallmarked, their registration number, the purity of the article, the type of article, and the details of the hallmarking centre that tested and hallmarked the article. Even a regular consumer can use this information to authenticate the item being purchased by matching it with the article type and purity.

What happens if hallmarked jewellery bought is found to be of lesser purity than that marked on jewellery?
According to section 49 of the BIS Rules, 2018, if hallmarked jewellery purchased by a consumer is later determined to be less pure than the purity indicated on the jewellery, the buyer/customer is entitled to compensation, which is equal to two times the difference calculated based on the shortage of purity for the weight of the article sold and the testing fees.