Image credit: Russkiye Samotsvety
Alexey Moiseev, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister expressed confidence that jewelry hallmarking to be introduced next year, will lead to an explosive growth in jewelry sales.
“We believe that the result will be the same as after the introduction of fur coat labeling. Remember, after the introduction of mandatory labeling, the legal market grew several times? Maybe, in our case, it will be even better,” said Alexey Moiseev, according to RIA Novosti.
In a more recent interview with TASS, he noted that at present Russia has control over precious metals, stones and products made from them worth about 3 trillion rubles. “At the same time, the share of 'shadow turnover' in the jewelry market [in Russia in 2020] is approximately 50%. This, first of all, imposes risks on buyers and violates their rights. When a person buys a piece of jewelry, he or she expects that the product will be of the appropriate quality. The same applies to diamond jewelry. We stand for a clear distinction between synthetic and natural stones,” said Aleksey Moiseev.
Speaking at the Moscow J-1 Jewelry Exhibition-Congress on September 22, he stated that jewelry is something that Russia can rightfully be proud of, and that hallmarking is aimed to protect buyers from counterfeits and increase consumer confidence in the jewelry industry.
At the exhibition, the Ministry of Finance of Russia and the Federal Assay Office informed the professional community that starting from December 1, 2020, the jewelry hallmarking system in Russia will operate in a test mode, then from January 1, 2021 onwards it will become mandatory, and from July 1, 2021 only hallmarked jewelry will be allowed in the country.
Vladimir Malakhov, Rough&Polished
