Sri Lanka to crackdown on jewellery merchants selling substandard items
View(s):By Bandula Sirimanna and Parameswaran Navaratnam (Jaffna Correspondent)
Sri Lanka is to crack down on jewellery merchants who cheat customers by selling sub-standard items, a senior official of the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Authority said All jewellers selling gold, silver or platinum jewellery are required to issue a ‘certificate’ to the customer and the failure do so will be liable for cancellation of their licence to sell, he added.
He noted that the authority has made compulsory the issuing of “responsibility certificate” for customers by jewellery merchants to ensure the genuineness of their product.
This directive was issued sometime back and some traders are still not following it, a senior official of the Authority, said
Following this directive, Jaffna jewellery shop owners for the first time after the end of war, have decided to issue “responsibility certificate” for 24 carat gold with effect from January next year, the Business Times Jaffna correspondent reported.
This decision was taken at the Jaffna Chamber of Commerce meeting presided over by its President R. Jeyasegaram recently.
The jeweller is required to specifically quote the amount of carat or PPT (Part per Thousand) in gold, silver or platinum jewellery, the trade mark and the price respectively in the responsibility certificate under the Assaying and Hallmarking Regulations, he added.
When contacted managers of several jewellery merchants in Colombo including Rajah jewelers, Arjuna Jewellery, Ambaals Jewellers (Pvt) Ltd and Wellawatta Nithyakalyani Jewellery told Business Times that they issue a certificate confirming the amount of carat along with the bill.
The Authority is to set up three new laboratories equipped with hi-tech instruments in Galle, Kandy and Jaffna at a cost of Rs. 300 million for the benefit of the public seeking guarantee on the standard of their gold jewellery.
The laboratories will issue standard certificates for individual gold jewellery on request.
Presently, the clients who want a guarantee on the standard of the jewellery they purchase can obtain laboratory test services only from the Authority in Colombo
Meanwhile Sri Lanka‘s lucrative gold jewellery business at Sea Street in Pettah slumped by around 30 per cent due to sky rocketing of gold prices which was Rs. 53,000 per 22 carat gold sovereign against Rs. 45,000-46,000 earlier. There was a significant drop in customers visiting the Sea Street to buy gold jewellery during this Christmas and New Year season, traders said.
Another reason for the drop in business was the removal of the St. John fish market.
Merchants said that people engaged in fish trading who regularly came to Colombo from all over the country were their customers adding that they had money and purchased gold jewellery.
Sri Lanka’s gold imports are likely to cross the six metric ton mark, costing around US$30 million this year, according to finance ministry sources.
A top official of the ministry added that some 15,000 are in the jewellery business in the country and annual turnover exceeds Rs. 10 billion approximately.
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