The Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Friday launched digital solutions for registration and renewal process for licences for jewellers and for recognition and renewal of Assaying and Hallmarking (A&H) Centres.

The Ministry said that with the hallmarking of precious metals set to become mandatory from June 1, 2021, the online systems have been launched to provide ease of doing business for both the jewellers and the entrepreneurs who have established Assaying and Hallmarking Centres or plan to set them up in the future

In a statement, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said with hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts set to become mandatory from next year, the number of jewellers coming forward for registrations is expected to go up to 5 lakh from the present 31,000. He said that the number of hallmarked jewellery and artefacts is also expected to witness a huge increase to up to 10 crore from the current 5 crore.

The government believes this will also lead to increase in the number of A&H Centres. At present, there are 921 such centres, located in 234 districts of the country. Paswan said that BIS is also now working on operationalising A&H centres in remaining 480 districts by June 2021.

The Minister added that the online system of audit will “facilitate expeditious disposal of complaints regarding malpractices in the Hallmarking of jewellery items.” The BIS is also working on the module to automate the work-flow of the Assaying and Hallmarking Centres, which is expected to be ready by December, he added

The official statement added that with the launch of the online system, the entire entire process of recognition, which involves audit of the Centres, submission of audit report, and grant of recognition or renewal, has been automated. Paswan said that with the launch of the two online systems, he expects jewellers and entrepreneurs will be encouraged to join the government’s effort to ensure the availability of the gold jewellery of proven quality and purity to the consumers.

Meanwhile, the Minister also said that the Department is in process of implementing IS or EU standards for products in India and from next month, BIS officials along with custom officials will examine the quality and standard of imported products cargoes on 7 Indian ports.

Only those products which meet the prescribed quality standards will be given permission to enter the Indian markets. Currently, steel, chemical, heavy machineries and toys holds major share in import list of the country.

Paswan added that the BIS is also working on quality checks for various products available in the market. At present QCO (Quality Control Orders) for 254 products are there and QCO’s for another 268 products are under pipeline.

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