Gold traders cheating innocent customers

Offering low quality jewelery with cadmium price

Zarif Mahmud: A class of dishonest traders are offering poor quality jewelery to the buyers by charging the price of cadmium jewellery. Again, unscrupulous artisans or traders are supplying low quality jewelery to common jewelers under various inducements and pretexts.
Bangladesh Jewelers Association (BAJUS) has given such information in the jewelery buying and selling and marketing guidelines. The guidelines were issued on July 20. It was signed by BAJUS Standing Committee on Pricing and Price Monitoring Chairman MA Hannan Azad.
According to the guidelines, a class of unscrupulous artisans or traders have been supplying low quality jewelery to ordinary jewelery traders under various inducements and pretexts. The jewelers are again selling those jewels to the buyers in good faith. As a result, on the one hand, consumers are being cheated, on the other hand, the reputation of the business is also being damaged.
Mentioning the total prohibition of manufacturing, marketing and selling of such low-quality jewellery, the guidelines further said that if any artisan or trader is found to be indulging in such activities, action will be taken against him as per the rules. Supplying low-quality jewelery involves cheating on the price of cadmium jewellery. Which is a punishable offense under the prevailing laws of the country. Therefore, in order to protect the reputation and tradition of jewelery business, such fraudulent activities should be avoided.
Mentioning that the manufacture, marketing and sale of pine ornaments are completely prohibited, the guidelines said, traditional ornaments can only be purchased from buyers. No substandard jewelery shall be manufactured, marketed and sold in the name of Cadmium Pine. Action will be taken against those involved in manufacturing, marketing and selling such jewelery as per rules.
Gold ornaments Sale, marketing, manufacturing and supply of jewelery should be ensured by Hallmark as per Gold Policy (2018) and Revised Gold Policy (2021).
According to government guidelines, there are four standards of gold across the country – 18, 21, 22 and 24 (99.5) carats. No gold or gold ornaments shall be sold beyond these standards. Purity below 99.5% is not acceptable in case of acid gold. Carat seal handwritten on gold or gold ornaments will not be acceptable.
10 percent in case of exchange or change of gold ornaments and 20 percent in case of purchase or purchase from buyer. Besides, at the time of sale, at least Tk 300 per village should be taken from the buyer. If any organization violates this decision, it will have to pay a fine of at least Tk 25 thousand. Any person who violates this Act for the second time shall be given a show cause notice as to why his membership shall not be cancelled. If the reply to the notice is not satisfactory, action will be taken as per the rules as per the constitution for breach of discipline of Bajus.
According to the rules, VAT should be collected from the buyers at the rate determined by the government and deposited in the government treasury under their own responsibility. If any person commits VAT evasion in violation of this rule and is accused of VAT evasion, the National Board of Revenue will be assisted instead of the accused establishment.
In case of manufacture of ornaments ordered or supply of ornaments booked, the market price of the day on which the order or booking is placed will be applicable. The time limit for delivery or receipt of orders shall be maximum one month. After one month, the order will be considered cancelled. In this case, after deducting 10 percent from the money or gold paid as earnest money or advance, the buyer has to return the remaining money or gold.
No tempting gifts or discounts or wage concessions or VAT exemptions shall be given while selling gold ornaments to attract buyers.
Gold or silver jewelery can’t be sold at prices lower or higher than the bajus prescribed price. If any organization violates it, administrative and organizational measures will be taken against that organization with financial penalties.
Guidelines for Buying Old Gold
Purchase receipt must be given to the seller in case of buying old gold.
The purchase receipt of the concerned jewelery establishment should contain all the details of the seller such as name, address, mobile number and national identity card number.
Photocopy of both sides from the original copy of national identity card of the seller should be kept at his own risk.
Ornaments cannot be purchased from any representative other than the original owner.
Instructions regarding purchase of gold and ornaments covered by Baggage Rule
The original copy of the seller’s passport should be photocopied at his own risk.
Photocopy of both sides from the original copy of national identity card of the seller should be kept at his own risk.
Gold should be bought from the real owner.
Tax payment document (original copy) should be kept at the airport if declaration or tax is covered.
Guide to Buying and Selling Diamond Jewelry
All diamond jewelry between 1 and 50 cents will have minimum color and clarity standards – IJ and SI 2.
Mandatory certificate for all diamond jewelery above 50 cents.
The minimum gold standard for diamond jewelery is 18 carats. In other words, gold below 18 carats cannot be used in diamond jewellery.
Mandatory Cash Memo to mention Quality Index at the time of sale of diamond ornaments.
15 percent deduction in case of exchange or change of diamond ornaments and 25 percent in case of purchase or purchase from buyer.
No tempting gift items or buy one get one free offers can be given while selling diamond jewelery to attract buyers. If this instruction is violated, the membership of the concerned organization will be canceled and strict legal action will be taken.
Selling fake diamonds (Masonite, CVD, Lab Made, Lab Born etc.) in the name of genuine diamonds in any jewelery establishment will result in cancellation of membership of that establishment and strict legal action will be taken.
Diamonds should be certified by quality diamond labs to ensure jewelry quality.
Maximum 25 percent discount can be given on sale of diamond ornaments. If any jewelery company violates this rule, organizational and administrative action will be taken as per the rules along with a fine of Tk five lakh.
Guidelines for buying and selling silver ornaments
To ensure consumer rights, silver ornaments should have mandatory hallmarks like gold ornaments.
In case of sale cash memo must mention carat and weight. However, in case of machine-made imported silver ornaments, the proprietor of the concerned institution shall be bound to ensure the quality of the ornaments.
30 percent in case of exchange or change of silver ornaments and 40 percent in case of purchase or purchase from buyer.
In order to protect consumer rights and prevent fraud, silver jewelery displays shall not display imitation or metal or gold plated jewelery at any time. Imitation or metal or gold plated jewelery should be kept in separate display. In this case, the type of jewelery should be mentioned in large and clear letters on the display.
If any jewelery dealer or Bajus member sells imitation or metal or gold-plated ornaments as silver ornaments to the buyer, action will be taken as per the prevailing laws of the country including cancellation of membership of that member.
The four standards of silver are 18, 21, 22 (carat cadmium) and Sanatan (10 annas must be deposited in Sanatan). No silver ornaments can be sold outside these standards.
A wage of Tk 26 per gram can be charged from the buyer while selling silver ornaments.
Government laws and regulations
To conduct jewelery business by obtaining trade license from city corporation or municipality or union council and renewing trade license at certain times of the year.
Under the Gold (Procurement, Storage and Distribution) 1987, the jewelery business should be conducted legally with a dealing license from the District Commissioner and the dealing license should be renewed from the office of the District Commissioner at certain times of the year.
According to government directives every jewelery establishment should have mandatory VAT registration. VAT registered and registration certificate should be displayed inside the establishment or show room.
According to government regulations every establishment should have TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) certificate and display it at a visible place in the show room.
In order to ensure consumer rights and avoid legal trouble, check the weight measuring device from BSTI at the specified time of the year and take the streaker and certificate at your own risk.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has designated Precious Metals and Precious Stones Businesses as reporting agencies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing risks. For this reason, if a customer makes a cash transaction of Tk 10 lakh or more during the purchase and sale of precious metals and stones, the customer’s transaction report must be submitted to BFIU. In this case, the complete information of the customer must be stored for at least five years.
Bajus instructions
Mandatory Bajus sticker and updated certificate must be displayed at a visible place inside the show room in all BAJUS member jewelery establishments.
Stickers, certificates and ID cards are being provided to BAJUS member institutions. For this, a fee of Tk 5000 has been fixed in the jewelery establishments of Dhaka city and a fee of Tk 1500 has been fixed at the district and upazila level. Deposit Tk 500 through receipt in district and upazila branch and collect the receipt by paying the remaining Tk 1000 at Bajus central office.
The admission fee of bajus has been set at Tk 10,000 in case of jewelery establishments under the jurisdiction of Dhaka city and Tk 2,000 in the whole country outside of Dhaka city.
A new jewelery establishment cannot be named by adding New, Di or any other or foreign brand names of jewelery establishments after a similar name or name in accordance with the name of a jewelery establishment. If any jeweler names the company in violation of this rule, his company will not be registered as a member of BAJUS.
Name clearance should be obtained from Bajus before naming the new organization.
If a jewelery establishment wants to appoint an officer or employee of another jewelery establishment, then the appointment should be subject to obtaining the previous shop clearance (no-objection letter) of that officer or employee. In case of violation, action will be taken as per rules.
In case of transport of gold ornaments, the copy of the institution’s invoice must be compulsorily kept with the carrier. The consignment must mention the bearer’s name, mobile number, gold weight, number and destination and must be accompanied by the bearer’s national identity card.