The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Wednesday said it will consider inclusion of 24 carat gold jewellery in the hallmarking standards.
"We were told by some jewellers that new technology has made jewellery of 24 carat gold possible. There are such examples abroad. So we are considering its hallmarking," BIS Chairman and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters here.
The BIS on Wednesday held its first meeting of the governing council to deliberate on regulations of the BIS Act.
The Central government has earlier agreed to hallmarking of 14, 18 and 22 carat gold jewellery as prescribed by BIS.
According to BIS officials, making jewellery out of 24 carat gold is considered difficult due to the softness of the metal.
"It seems quite difficult. We will have to see its feasibility," an official said.
Paswan said as many as 19,000 BIS standards for different products and services were ready.
"These standards would not be limited to just products but they will cover services such as culture and code of conduct in offices, schools and hospitals."
There are provisions to deal with issues such as misleading advertisement, product return, non-compliance fine to sellers, private self-certification of products, he added.
About 10,000 standards were established for products while remaining 9,000 standards included code of practices, methods of testing and vocabulary.
The BIS Act has been in force since October 2017 and rules are ready.
"The governing council now set up an executive committee, which will frame regulations," a BIS official said.
--IANS
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