Friday, 18th February 2005 (4127 views)

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has issued an amendment numbered Indian Standard IS 1417:99 prohibiting the use of iridium, ruthenium and cadmium in gold jewellery and artefacts.

The BIS is responsible for the gold hallmarking scheme which certifies the purity of gold and, if jewellery is hallmarked under the organisation's scheme, it ensures the absence of those elements.

Recent media reports have revealed that iridium, ruthenium and cadmium have been used to dilute the purity of gold by some manufacturers. The three elements can be detected by the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method.

BIS has also appealed to the public to check for adulteration and purchase only BIS hallmarked jewellery marked with its logo, fineness mark, jewellers logo, hallmarking centre logo, and the year of marking, the Indian Business Standard reports.

In a press release, BIS called for retailers and manufacturers of jewellery and artifacts to contact the bureau to obtain the certification marks licence (CML) to hallmark their jewellery and ensure jewellery is free from any adulteration.

BIS started the hallmarking scheme in the year 2000 under the direction of the government of India and on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

 

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