The stamp of the Russian “jeweler” – a monopoly?
Thus, the amendments introduced by the draft law imply full exemption from branding of jewelry made for export. It is also proposed to abandon samples on silver products weighing less than three grams.
According to representatives of the jewelry business and experts, the changes are long overdue. At the moment, all manufacturers are required to stamp their own products in the Assay Chamber under the Ministry of Finance. Jewelers pay a fee in the amount of from 17 to 45 rubles per item. The maximum period stipulated by current legislation for checking and installing a sample for each piece of jewelry is 10 days. However, according to the chairman of the Expert Council for the development of the jewelry industry in the State Duma Viktor Zvagelsky, who introduced the bill, in practice this period is often stretched for a month, the newspaper Izvestia writes.
Jewelers propose to create private laboratories that themselves would apply stamps to jewelry.
In practice, they will not turn out to be very much, since only large manufacturing plants can afford such expenses. Each of the laboratories will have to go through state accreditation, after which it will be assigned its own individual cipher. She will put this cipher on products, which will make it possible to bring an unscrupulous company to responsibility in case of a violation. Fines, however, are offered not very high: from 30 to 50 thousand rubles. The assay chamber, by the way, is also invited to undergo accreditation along with everyone.
As for the export of jewelry, Russian stamps do not meet foreign standards. In some countries, they are altogether considered as a marriage, because they are put to blow. And it’s impossible to make jewelery with the stamps required by foreign customers from Russian manufacturers – this is prohibited by law.
The analysts did not agree on the estimates proposed in the draft law. A number of experts assume that they will negatively affect the quality of products, as the control over their manufacture will weaken, and in general will open the way for all sorts of abuses. For example, customs, because exporting, for example, gold jewelry without state stamps will be quite simple – it is impossible to verify what is exported.
However, most experts evaluate the bill positively. Creating your own laboratories will help large enterprises avoid further expenses, including the costs associated with all aspects of a bureaucratic procedure. It is expected that in this regard, the cost of jewelry will decrease by an average of 1.5-2 percent, which, of course, is good news already for the consumer.
“Jewelry jewelry is such a business that it’s hard to provide poor quality products,” Pravda explained to the correspondent. An analyst at Investkafe Andrei Shenk. “Because people who buy jewelry are willing to incur additional costs if they are not sure of the quality. They can then just double-check with reputable agencies, re-evaluate the product, after which, of course, this can lead to trouble at the manufacturer up to court costs. Therefore, I think this measure is quite adequate and timely. It is not enough to mobilize the market, increase the volumes a little, and as far as quality is concerned with export deliveries, our export is also someone’s import, and quality control can also be at the entrance.Therefore quality will not suffer in the long run: it will just be unprofitable for those involved in the jewelry business, I don’t think it’s such a wide market: there are basically only big players, and no one wants to ruin their reputation. On the contrary, such a measure will simplify bureaucratic procedures. ”
As for silver labeling, given the fact that silver is less expensive than other precious metals, putting samples on products that are lighter than three grams is simply unprofitable. The manufacture of such products becomes unprofitable to the manufacturer, and its acquisition to the consumer. Indeed, branding increases the cost of small products almost doubled.
