The other practical difficulties envisaged are: Risk of life and property of jewellers traveling long distances to the few (and inadequate) hallmarking centers. Leakage and violation of Intellectual Property Rights in the designs, which is easily available at the hallmarking centers.
Absence of norms regulating dealing in articles embedded with diamonds and other precious stones which are extremely valuable and require utmost care in handling.
Practical impossibility to hallmark Kundan Meena jewellery and Victorian jewellery due to the variety of cartages used and manner of preparation of the article.
Draft Regulations contemplates hallmarking related to a retail outlet thus entities with multiple retail outlets will not be able to move articles between stores without having them re-hallmarked thereby increasing the transaction costs.
It is unjust and unfair for the Draft Regulations to propose penal consequences when the process of hallmarking is not uniform and in fact is an inexact process, where different centers indicate different results.
It is essential to exempt certain articles / categories from compulsory hallmarking since many articles due to their size, structure and delicateness cannot be hallmarked, which fact is recognized by the present scheme of gold certification.
The Draft Regulations, in the case of a default by a licensee, propose cancellation of the license granted resulting in debarment from carrying on business.
The Draft Regulations also make no distinction between minor or non material deviation, vis-à-vis a substantive breach and prescribes the same consequence for all breaches,irrespective of the nature of default.
It is a well settled principle of law that any restriction upon any right to trade must be reasonable. The legal position in circumstances where the necessary infrastructure to implement a law was inadequate was spelt out by the Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Jamshed N. Guzdar v. State of Maharashta, which observed that the government must refrain from implementation of legislation if adequate infrastructure facilities have not been made available for its effective compliance by the citizens affected.
The following deficiencies in the Draft Regulations require attention and correction before implementation: Introducing stated tolerances in the provisions given the nature of the articles and variation in process of hallmarking.
Instituting a forum for redressal of issues emerging from interpretation or application of the provisions of law. Affixing liability on the hallmarking centres to bear any penalty if a deviation in hallmarked goods is noticed.
Redrafting the rights and duties clauses in the provisions as these appear to be drafted in a manner similar to days of License Raj, where officers held unfettered powers over the industry.
Adopting the concept of Responsibility Mark, as prevalent in other countries may be advantageous since the responsibility of hallmarking vests with jewellers who is aware of the nuances of the product and also allows the consumer the option to buy a jewellery which is hallmarked or not.
The regime will hold the jeweller responsible for hallmarking and also directly require the jeweler to bear the consequences of breach of norms Further, there will be little requirement of the governmental infrastructure for hallmarking.
Finally the fact that it has been successfully implemented across the globe. It is the prayed that the Draft Regulation for compulsory hallmarking be withdrawn, and / or the implementation of compulsory hallmarking be delayed and a regime of Responsibility Marks be introduced.
All India Gems & Jewellery Federation
marketing@alchempro.com
