The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) will begin monitoring the quality gold jewellery manufactured and offered for sale by Goldsmiths and Jewellers in Guyana from January 2020.
This was disclosed by Head of the Marketing and Communications Department of the GNBS Syeid Ibrahim at an awareness session about the requirements of the National Standard Specification for Gold Articles (GYS 50:2010) for Goldsmiths, Jewellers and Importers of jewellery.
The training was held at the Regency Suites in collaboration with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission(GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board(GCB).
According to a statement from the GNBS, the stakeholders will be required to register annually with the GNBS and facilitate routine inspections at their sale outlets.
During inspections, Inspectors of the GNBS will examine jewellery offered for sale to ensure it is compliant with labelling requirements stipulated by the GNBS. Samples would be routinely tested to verify the quality of the jewellery based on what is declared on the label. For example, if a piece of jewellery is labelled 14 Karats (K), it will be tested to verify that it is the same.
Head of the Product Compliance Services of the GNBS, Shailendra Rai stated that that all Goldsmiths, Jewelers and Importers of jewellery are required to possess a copy of the National Standard, which will help them to understand the requirements and modify their businesses and products to ensure compliance.
The session continued with brief presentations from Chief Mines Officer from the GGMC, Kerwin Josiah on their roles and functions and Laboratory Technician II of GNBS, Vishnu Matbadal who presented on the testing capabilities of the Bureau.
For manufacturers and importers of gold jewellery, complying with the requirements of the Gold standard will prevent fraud and deception arising from misleading labels, the GNBS stated.
The standard gives guidance to manufacturers and helps them to provide adequate labelling information.
Consumers can also benefit when jewelers implement the standard, as during purchases they will be guided by labels affixed to the jewellery. . In addition, when jewelers and goldsmiths across Guyana conform to the standard consumers are able to access the right quality of gold articles, and overtime, gain confidence in the fact that they are receiving value for their money.
Awareness sessions are scheduled throughout the various regions in Guyana. The next round of session will be as follows:
Region Date Venue Time
3 2019-07-23 RDC Board Room, Vreed En Hoop 13:00h
6 2019-08-07 RDC Board Room, New Amsterdam 13:00h
2 2019-08-14 RDC Board Room, Anna Regina 09:30h
7 2019-08-20 RDC, Board Room, Bartica 13:00h
5 2019-08-28 RDC, Board Room, Fort Wellington 13:00h
