Issuance of Registration Certificate to Jewellers for sale of Hallmarked Articles

Background

Gold is too soft to with stand wear, therefore, for jewellery making, gold is always alloyed with some other metal. The need for alloying of gold also makes public extremely vulnerable to excessive adulteration. Detection of adulteration in gold is difficult without performing technical tests. The complex nature of Indian jewellery mostly made of high caratage gold and containing numerous soldered joints of much lower caratage makes the job of determination of purity even more difficult. In addition, 24 carat plating of articles of low caratage is also common. The common consumer though well aware of such malpractices still has no option but to submit himself to repeated cheating by unscrupulous traders.

It was in this background that Government of India took cognizance of the need for protecting consumers. A mandate was, therefore, given to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Standing Committee on Gold and Precious Metals to look into the issues relating to Standardization of Gold products and introduction of Gold Hallmarking in the country. The Committee identified Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in the year 2000 as the sole agency to operate the Hallmarking Scheme in India, and entrusted BIS with the task of implementing hallmarking scheme to protect the consumer against cheating, develop export competitiveness and make India a leading market for gold jewellery in the world.

Applicability for Compulsory License

Whosoever, within the districts as mentioned href="https://www.bis.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/qc-order-June-2021-2.pdf">here, wants to sell Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts, have to register them with the BIS Authority, and after getting registration, they can sell the Gold Jewellery and its related Artefacts.

Exemption

BIS Authority exempted the following category of person for compulsory selling of precious metal with Hallmark:

1. an article with weight less than two grams;
2. any article meant for export, which conforms to any specification required by the foreign buyer;
3. an article which is in course of consignment from outside India to an assaying and hallmarking centre in India recognised as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (Hallmarking) Regulations, 2018, for hallmarking;
4. any article which is intended to be used for medical, dental, veterinary, scientific or industrial purposes;
5. any article of gold thread;
6. any manufactured article which is not substantially complete, and which is intended for further manufacture;
7. gold bullion in any shape of bar, plate, sheet, foil, rod, wire, strip, tube or coin;
8. Gold articles meant for international exhibitions;
9. Gold articles meant for export and re-import as per trade policy of the Government of India;
10. Gold articles meant for domestic business to business exhibitions approved by the Government;
11. special categories of jewellery, namely Kundan, Polki and Jadaau;
12. watch and fountain pen; and
13. jewellers with the annual turnover of upto rupees fourty lakh per annum.

Commencement Date: 1st June, 2022

Validity of License: 5 years

Procedure to get License for selling the precious metals with Hallmark:

Procedure

1. Visit WWW.MANAKONLINE.IN portal and select the ‘Hallmarking’ tile;
2. Create account with this portal;
3. Login in this portal;
4. Then go to Dashboard, and click on Apply Now;
5. Fill all the information of the Applicant;
6. And then attach the relevant documents and then submit the form.
7. After successful submission of form, status will reflect.

Documents Required

1. Proof of establishment of Firm/Company (For Proprietorship – Aaadhar Card/GST Registration/MSME Registration etc, for Company – MOA and AOA, For Partnership – Partnership Deed)
2. proof of the address of the premises;
3. proof of identity of the signatory;
4. map indicating location of the premises from the nearest landmark;
5. proof in regard to annual turnover (certified by CA)

Fees

1. Application Fees: INR 2,000/- with each application;
2. Registration fee:

Please note:

1. If a jeweller has five or more outlets anywhere in India, he can opt for the certificate of registration at corporate level covering various retail outlets in one certificate and claim a discount of 10% in registration fee for each outlet;
2. In case of certificate of registration at corporate level, separate application fee shall be payable for each outlet.
3. An application fee of Rs. 2000/- is payable for every request made for inclusion or deletion of retail outlets
4. Application fee only shall be payable by a jeweller holding a certificate for one precious metal and wanting to obtain certificate of registration for other precious metal.
5. In case, an outlet has certificate of registration for more than one precious metal, registration fee shall be payable for one metal only.
6. Applicable taxes as per prevalent rates shall be payable in addition to above
7. If the registration fee is paid along with application fee in advance and application is rejected for any reason, the fee shall be refundable.

The author can also be reached at dvnitinkaushik@gmail.com