All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), the national apex body of the domestic gems and jewellery industry, has said that HUID, the unique 6-digit code to be affixed on jewellery pieces by Assaying and Hallmarking Centres (AHCs) as part of the mandatory hallmarking announced by the Central government on January 15, 2021, has been able to achieve nothing and has become a liability on the entire gems and jewellery industry.

GJC has made this observation in its proposals submitted to the advisory committee of hallmarking, which was set up to look into the problems created by the government’s decree on mandatory hallmarking.

In its list of recommendations, GJC says: “The objective of BIS is to provide for and implement standards to ensure quality assurance of products. HUID was notified by BIS in order to ensure the purity and fineness of the articles hallmarked and to make the process of hallmarking transparent, non-manipulative and auditable, thereby preventing fake hallmarking. Therefore, HUID system should only be made applicable at AHC level and should not be brought to the level of jewellers, which will create unwanted harassment in the day-to-day functioning of business. HUID with the new 6-digit mark has been applied on jewellery from June 16, 2021. This new module has been able to achieve nothing and has become a liability on the entire gem and jewellery industry.”

The HUID system has been opposed not just by the jewellers but also by AHCs. It has been found to be extremely time consuming, due to which AHCs are not able to hallmark more than 150 to 200 pieces per day. The resultant delay in hallmarking is disrupting the entire supply chain and causing problems in the delivery of jewellery to customers. In fact, industry players say that it has also led to cancellation of orders by many customers, causing a loss to jewellers.

According to GJC, “The HUID system must not be made applicable to jewellers. Additionally, in accordance with the process followed earlier, the jewellers must be permitted to submit jewellery for hallmarking though delivery challan in accordance with rule 55 of the CGST Rules, 2017. HUID number and the corresponding data should be maintained solely by AHCs and should not be transferred to the jewellers account on the BIS website. It is not right to give access to AHCs to the jewellers account on BIS portal. The current process followed by AHCs ends up in damaging certain finished products It is imperative that a non-destructive process is adopted for sampling and testing of jewellery.”

GJC adds that jewellers should not be held responsible for the process of hallmarking and for the veracity of the certification. “It is the jeweller’s obligation to provide the articles for hallmarking. However, under the broader scheme of the legislation, the uninvolved jeweller cannot be held responsible in case the article has not been hallmarked properly. The jeweller cannot be held responsible for a process that it is not involved in, and which is required to be kept independent of the jeweller,” it adds.

The list of recommendations also involves a reference to a proper definition of the term “Point of Sale”, when it comes to jewellery.