Dubai: Sale of precious stones and metals in the UAE will see tighter controls by the end of this year, safeguarding the interests of both consumers and traders, the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma) announced on Monday.
According to ESMA, new set of regulations will enhance standards in one of the biggest gold, jewellery and gemstone markets in the region.
“With the new regulations we are trying to enhance fair trade and safeguard the rights of both the consumers and the traders. This will reinforce the UAE’s position as the leading gold and precious stone market in the region,” said Abdullah Al Muaini, Director General of ESMA.
The new regulations, Al Muaini said, will ensure proper calibration of the weighing scales used to weigh the gold, silver and other precious metals and gemstones.
Al Muaini said that apart from setting the regulations ESMA will also set up a regular monitoring regime to ensure consistent compliance to the new standards on the part of traders.
In addition to ensuring right balance, the latest standards will also put in new structure in classification of precious stones and metals as well as legal carats certified by ESMA approved laboratories.
“By the end of this year, we will be issuing new rules for displaying tagging of jewellery, with clear mention of the size, weight and classification of the item on sale,” added Al Muaini.
He added that all the precious jewellery will have to be certified by Esma accredited laboratories located in different parts of the world.
The new requirements that will be updated in the draft law issued earlier this year, have been communicated to the jewellery traders across the country, who welcomed the initiative after meeting with Al Muaini recently.
“I had a meeting with a delegation of the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group in Dubai last week, and we discussed several issues related to the new regulations including balancing, display and classification. The group welcomed the new standards which they said will bring in greater transparency in the market,” said Al Muaini.
He added that the standards were drawn from the complaints from consumers and suggestions from regulatory bodies at each emirate level.
According to official statistics, gold trade in the UAE grew by 13 per cent last year, with a total value of Dh244.3 billion compared to Dh217 billion in the previous year, while the value of exports amounted to Dh75.9 billion and the value of re-exports stood at Dh26 billion.
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