This story is from August 24, 2021

Jewellers protest new hallmarking rules

Jewellers protest new hallmarking rules
Coimbatore: Hundreds of jewellers staged a token protest in the city on Monday to raise their objection to the new hallmarking rules, especially the hallmarking unique ID (HUID).
There are 625 jewellery stores in the city, employing around 10,000 people. In addition, there are more than 50,000 goldsmiths who rely on them.
The jewellers closed their shops till 11.30am and protested at Rajaveethi, Gandhipuram and on Periyakadai Street.
Their representatives also petitioned district collector G S Sameeran in this regard.
B Muthu Venkatraman, president, Coimbatore Jewellery Manufacturers’ Association, said the protest had caused them a loss of around Rs50 crore.
The protestors said they were not objecting to the BIS certification, but they cannot accept the HUID as it has nothing to do with the purity of gold.
They said it was meant only for tracking. “HUID is impractical and cannot be implemented properly. It calls for recording the customers’ phone numbers and valid identification details. This is not possible.”
Jewellery shops in Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Erode districts too staged the token protest on the day for two and half hours.
Talking to the media in Salem, A S Sriram, president, Tamil Nadu All Jewellers Association, said the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had urged them to print HUID in all gold ornaments from June 16 next year. “There is no need for it. And there is plenty of practical difficulties. The BIS should roll back the announcement.”
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