Jewelers ask to delay mandatory labeling of products

Jewelers, through industry associations, are trying to achieve at least a two-year postponement of the implementation of mandatory physical labeling of their products, which should start in March 2024. The maximum task of market participants is to achieve a complete abandonment of marking, leaving only a two-dimensional bar code on jewelry. The association explains its proposals by the fact that manufacturers do not have time to prepare for the new rules in time. Meanwhile, the Federal Assay Office notes that jewelers had enough time for this and the launch of marking has already been postponed several times.

“Kommersant” has obtained a letter in which the Association of Jewelers (unites large industry companies, which account for 50% of retail sales in the Russian Federation) asks the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustina to postpone for two years, until September 1, 2026, the deadline for mandatory labeling of jewelry products declared as leftovers. The government staff told Kommersant that they had received the appeal and it “will be considered in due course.”

From March 1, mandatory physical marking (with a code applied to the surface of the product) of all jewelry products will be introduced. And products declared as leftovers must be marked before September 1.

The association in its letter indicates that from January 1, 2023, regulations abolishing the simplified taxation system (STS) in the jewelry industry came into force. And now market participants register all stocks of their products in the GIIS DMDK – the state system for monitoring the circulation of precious metals, stones and products.

Initially, the Federal Assay Chamber (FAP) was guided by the timing of the launch of marking and the implementation of the GIIS DMDK system based on current business volumes, but after the abolition of the simplified tax system, a large number of additional products were revealed that had not appeared anywhere before, explains Vadim Serov, general director of the Jewelers Association. Considering the real volumes of the market, it is impossible to label the entire volume of products by the established deadlines, he adds. In addition, the association’s letter indicates that when jewelry is sent for labeling, stores will be left with half-empty shelves for an average of two months.

The Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Kommersant that the introduction of a product traceability system led to the “whitewashing” of the jewelry industry. At the same time, as clarified in the chamber, the Ministry of Finance has prepared a draft resolution allowing not to mark some small items after they have been checked by FPP employees. They add that such decorations make up about 5–10% of the total volume. The FPP also believes that about 20-25% of the products currently in stock “may have marks of dubious origin,” and information about false data will be sent to law enforcement agencies. Products bearing such marks will remain in the chamber pending the outcome of the proceedings, the FPP warns.

At the same time, another association, the Guild of Jewelers, turned to the head of the Committee on Budget and Financial Markets of the Federation Council, Anatoly Artamonov, with an initiative to completely abandon the physical marking of jewelry, leaving only a two-dimensional bar code applied to a tag inextricably linked with the product.

Kommersant also has a copy of this letter. The Federation Council did not answer Kommersant. The Guild, however, does not propose to immediately abandon mandatory labeling, but to postpone it for two years and during this time to see how the circulation of jewelry with a two-dimensional bar code and a unique number (UIN) will be carried out in practice.

In a letter to the senator, the guild argues that there is no risk of code tags being “staggered” from one product to another, or of duplicating tags with identical codes being placed on multiple products, due to the implementation of universal transport modules. Through these modules, retail makes an automatic request for product compliance with its unique number. “In such a situation, it is not economically profitable for manufacturers to deliberately overhang the tag with the UIN and two-dimensional bar code,” the guild claims. Also, due to its small dimensions, the buyer cannot read the microcode on the jewelry when purchasing it; it also often turns out to be unreadable when scanners are used, the letter states.

The Federal Assay Office notes that the deadline for marking has already been postponed twice, so it is necessary to “once again calculate the consequences of such a decision and clarify the real volumes of jewelry.” They believe that another postponement could generally destimulate the market, which would affect the process of confirming the authenticity of products.

Alina Savitskaya