Russia begins hallmarking jewelry made of precious metals

On December 1, Russia began hallmarking jewelry made of precious metals in a test mode. Hallmarking was initiated by the country’s law enforcement agencies. In this way, they want to reduce the theft of gold, from mining operations to jewelry factories. The hallmarking will become mandatory on July 1, 2021 onwards.
"The hallmarking is meant not for the sake of hallmarking, but for the sake of tracing precious metals to eliminate grey and black areas… We are supposed to apply hallmarks directly on the metal surface of goods. No one has ever done this before in the world," said Eduard Utkin, General Manager of the Russian Jewelers Guild Association in his comments to the FAN news agency.
Striking hallmarks on metal will only apply to jewelry made of gold and platinum. Silver products, blanks of precious metals, precious stones and other items will possibly carry markings on their packages or labels.
But jewelers doubt if it will be at all possible to stamp hallmarks on the metal of any goods. The Guild of Jewelers of Russia has already tested some of the batches of goods and in 20% of cases, hallmarks were indistinct or unreadable.
The system of hallmarking jewelry is also very expensive both for the state and for jewelers: every side will have to buy expensive equipment.
Prices for equipment able to read hallmarks put on metal are also high. According to experts, jewelry hallmarking will cost the state 10 billion rubles.
Foreign wholesale jewelry suppliers will also be required to hallmark their goods.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished