Kochi: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has announced that silver jewellery will receive hallmark certification from September 1, as part of the move to make hallmarking mandatory for silver items.

The move is part of a broader initiative to ensure quality assurance and standardisation in precious metal items.

The announcement was made by Deputy Director General for Foreign Certification Registration Chitra Gupta at a meeting of gold jewellery associations across India.

In addition to the upcoming regulation for silver, BIS has confirmed that mandatory hallmarking for 9-carat gold jewellery has now come into effect. The meeting also revealed that hallmarking for 7-carat gold jewellery will be permitted moving forward.

However, representatives of the traders’ association present at the meeting said it was unacceptable to grant the right to hallmark gold coins and bullion exclusively to refineries.

It was further decided that gold jewellery with hallmark certification will now include both the weight of the item and a photograph of it.