HUID- A New Hallmarking Process Is Not Customer Friendly And Against The Trade: Pune Saraf Association

Pune, August 21, 2021: In order to protest against the arbitrary implementation of new Hallmarking process with Unique ID (HUID) on jewellery and various penal provisions by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Jewelers from Maharashtra and Pune Saraf Association (PSA) have declared one day strike on Monday, August 23, 2021.

Maintaining that HUID is not concerned with the purity of jewellery and is against the interest of customers and the principles of ease of   doing business, PSA has said that the process adopted for HUID is impractical and will interfere with data privacy and business secrecy of citizens.

“HUID is a destructive process and does not guarantee the safety of jewelers. Besides HUID, elements of cancellation of registration, penal provisions, search and seizure ultimately will institute ‘Inspector Raj’ in the country. This is nothing but harassment of customers and MSME jewelers,” said Fatechand Ranka, President, PSA.

Out of 741 districts in India, only 256 districts have been brought under mandatory hallmarking from June 16, 2021 and according to PSA, BIS has no infrastructure nor have control over the hallmarking centers as from 2016 to 2020 more than 480 Centers have been cancelled, suspended or de-recognized for fake hallmarking, wrong hallmarking or sample failing.

“On failure of sample, criminal liability of prosecution is cast upon the jewelers, which is unconstitutional as the purity has been tested and stamped by third parties that are Hallmarking Centers,” said Ranka.

The system of marking on ornaments involves four stages- BIS Logo, purity mark, housemark of hallmarking center and jeweler’s mark but the new mandate does not involve the centre’s and  jewelers  housemark, which the jewelers feel will lead to various disputes in future at the time of remaking or selling the ornaments.

PSA has maintained that as HUID system is very slow and takes 5 to 10 days to hallmark, the industry production will come on standstill and while it will be impossible to hallmark the ornaments in just 3-4 years, the higher turn around period of manufacturer will result into loss of employment and will also increase the cost of jewellery.

Ranka said that due to the new draconian provision, the livelihood of 5 Crore dependents on the G & J Industry will be at  stake and the penal and criminal charges on the jeweler, who has not manufactured or hallmarked the jewellery and sold it like a trader, will eventually result into winding up of businesses.

“The industry’s demand to consider Niti Aayog’s report on Hallmarking to be a benchmark while framing the BIS Act is not taken into consideration. Hallmarking should be based on point of sale as proposed by jewelers, while all other applications of storage, display, transit, and exhibit to sale etc shall be removed from the BIS Act and Regulation. The industry has recommended to increase the Standard for 22 Kt from 916 to 918 as its commitment to offer quality jewellery to the consumers,” said Ranka.