Silver to be hallmarked on lines similar to gold

After successfully implementing the hallmarking scheme for gold, the department of consumer affairs and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is all set to bring put silver through the same process. The silver hallmarking scheme would work similar to the gold hallmarking one.

A senior BIS official told Business Standard that hallmarking of silver ornaments will be made compulsory from January 2008. "We are aiming at bringing at least 25 per cent of the silver stock with bullion traders under the hallmarking scheme. A trader has to register himself with BIS by paying Rs 15,000 as registration fees for three years. We are also planning to charge Rs 20 a gm as hallmarking charges," he said.

"A BIS-certified jeweller will be responsible for the manufacture or retail of hallmarked products. He will be responsible for ensuring the homogeneity of jewellery to the fineness declared before submitting to BIS recognised Assaying & Hallmarking Centre," he added.

"We are planning to set up the Assaying & Hallmarking Centres for silver at district level by 2008. The same job can also be done at the centres available for gold hallmarking," he mentioned.

Though BIS so far has not issued any official notification in this regards, discussions are on with all major bullion associations in the country.

The department of consumer affairs and BIS had introduced hallmarking scheme for gold in the year 2001-02. The scheme, which was voluntary earlier, was made mandatory in June 2004. BIS issued a notification asking bullion traders to bring at least 25 per cent of the gold stock under hallmarking.

Explaining the procedure and rules involved in the scheme, a BIS official said that the licencee should ensure use of cadmium free solders only for manufacturing silver jewellery or artefacts meant for hallmarking. However, melting purity of articles should not be less than the purity for which it has been offered for hallmarking.

He added, "The standard mark, one of the components of hallmarking, shall be marked on all ornaments by the Assaying & Hallmarking Centre, provided the jewellery conforms to all specifications. For this purpose the BIS certified jeweller should submit each batch of ornaments to the centre with each piece of jewellery/artefact marked with his identification at an appropriate place. The centre will then assay the product as per the sampling plan duly approved by BIS and then laser mark the product."

"All hallmarked silver ornaments will have a BIS logo on it. It will also carry information on purity grade/fineness, Assaying & Hallmarking Centre's identification mark, the jeweller's/manufacturers' identification mark and code letter for the year of marking (as communicated by BIS)," he informed.

He further said, "The licencee will keep a magnifying glass of at least 10X magnification for viewing the hallmark. Only linear design shall be permitted. For medallions the designs likely to resemble currency of any country shall not be permitted."

"Silver products with parts made of metals other than silver or silver alloy will not be marked. Jewellery/artefacts which are not solid or having a hollow centre will also not be marked," he said.

The BIS official further added that if there is a complaint against the hallmarked product, which carries with it a report from any BIS recognised licencee or manufacturer the product should be replaced free of cost by the licensee in case the complaint is proved to be genuine.