Jewellers put in place regulation

KATHMANDU, OCT 01 -Gold dealers have unilaterally prepared rules on jewellery business, which has allowed them to earn profit up to 20 percent. Two federations of the dealers have asked all its members across the country to implement the rules and conduct business accordingly from Tuesday.

But only the government has the right to introduce such a regulation. The “Jewellery Business Operation Regulation” of the traders has come at the time when the government has resumed inspection of jewellery shops. The government has filed cases against eight jewellers found cheating customers.

The jewellers came up with the regulation after they failed to agree to the draft guideline being prepared by the government. The regulation says while buying jewellery from customers, traders can reduce the price of the item by 10 percent compared to the market price on the business day.  “Since the government delayed the preparation and implementation of the standard rules, we had to devise our own,” said Ramesh Maharjan, president of the Federation of Nepal Gold, Silver, Gem and Jewellery Association (FNGSGJA). He added it has already been more than three months since the government started the work on the guideline.

Deepak Subedi, officiating secretary at the Ministry of Commerce Supply, said traders could not introduce a regulation setting own standards. “We will discuss on the matter with the Department of Commerce and Supply Management and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology on Tuesday,” he said.

The two federations—Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Associations (Fenegosida) and the FNGSGJA—have also condemned the government’s market monitoring activities. Issuing a joint press release on Monday, the federations have said the resumption of the market inspection is against the agreement reached in the past.

“The government resumed market inspection without implementing the promised monitoring guideline which has again terrorised the dealers,” said Mani Ratna Shakya, president of Fenegosida.

After a gap of nearly five months, the Commerce Department Management on Sunday resumed the market inspection. Five jewellery shops—New Baral Jewellery, Sayapatri Merry gold Jewellers, Lucky Jewellers, Natraj Jewellers and Jaya Matadi Gold Palace of the Capital—were monitored and a product of Sayapatri Merry gold Jewellers was found to be of low quality.