Gold Marking Across Asia and the Middle East: From Mandatory Hallmarks to the Gold Souk
Britain's hallmark is a single system, seven centuries old. Across Asia and the Middle East, home to the world's two largest gold markets (World Gold Council, Gold Demand by Country), the marks on a piece of gold follow very different rules. Some countries now enforce one of the strictest hallmarking regimes on earth, others rely on a single national standard, and in the Gulf gold is still weighed out at a daily price much as it has been for generations. Here is how gold is marked, tested and sold across the region.
India: mandatory hallmarking and the six-digit HUID
India, the world's second-largest gold consumer (World Gold Council), has built one of the most ambitious hallmarking schemes anywhere, run by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Since 1 July 2021, a BIS hallmark on gold has consisted of three marks: the BIS standard mark (its logo), the purity stated in both caratage and fineness, and a six-digit alphanumeric HUID number (Bureau of Indian Standards, Hallmarking FAQ). HUID stands for Hallmark Unique Identification, a code unique to each individual article and traceable through the BIS Care app, which reveals the jeweller who submitted it, the purity, and the centre that tested it (BIS).
The permitted grades for hallmarked gold jewellery are fixed at six levels: 14K (585), 18K (750), 20K (833), 22K (916), 23K (958) and 24K (995) (BIS, Hallmarking FAQ). Crucially, hallmarking is no longer optional. The first phase of mandatory hallmarking took effect on 23 June 2021 across 256 districts, and from 1 April 2023 the BIS prohibited the sale of any hallmarked gold jewellery or artefact that did not carry the six-digit HUID (Press Information Bureau, Government of India, Mandatory HUID-based hallmarking from 1 April 2023). The scheme has since widened through successive phases to cover more than 380 districts (BIS). For buyers, the effect is a legally enforced, item-level guarantee of purity that few countries can match.
China: one national standard, one stamp
China, the world's largest gold market (World Gold Council), governs jewellery marking through a single national standard, GB 11887, "Jewellery: Fineness of precious metal alloys and designation" (Standardization Administration of China, GB 11887-2012). The standard requires gold jewellery offered for sale to carry a fineness mark together with a registered manufacturer's mark, and it fixes the recognised gold grades from 9K up to 24K, alongside the traditional Chinese designation 足金 (zu jin), meaning gold of at least 990 parts per thousand (GB 11887). It also limits what a jewellery description may state to fineness, material and the article itself, closing the door on inflated marketing claims. The result is less an assay tradition than a clean, enforceable rule: a purity number and a maker, on every piece.
The Gulf: high carat, sold by weight
In the Middle East, taste runs to the purest gold. Higher-carat gold is favoured across Asia and the Middle East, where 24 carat is pure gold and 22 carat is the traditional choice for jewellery that doubles as a store of wealth (World Gold Council, About Gold Jewellery). The Gulf adds its own distinctive standard, 21 carat (875 fine), sold alongside 22 carat (916) and 24 carat (999) (Gulf News, Keeping Dubai gold pure).
The selling model is as old as the souk. Gold is priced by weight, not by design. The shop takes the day's official rate, set each morning by the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group from the international spot price, and adds a "making charge" for the workmanship (Gulf News, Dubai gold rate). The metal price is fixed and published, while the making charge, which can range from a few per cent to roughly a third of the gold value on the most elaborate pieces, is where the negotiating happens (Gulf News).
None of this means the marks do not matter. In the United Arab Emirates, hallmarking is compulsory under Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 on monitoring the trade in, and stamping of, precious stones and precious metals (UAE Legislation, Federal Law No. 11 of 2015). In Dubai, purity is policed by the Dubai Central Laboratory, part of Dubai Municipality, which tests jewellery by X-ray fluorescence and runs an inspection regime across the souks to ensure every piece carries its correct fineness mark (Gulf News).
Japan and the voluntary tradition
Not every advanced market compels hallmarking. In Japan, fineness certification is carried out by the Japan Mint, which examines and stamps precious metal wares only on application from the manufacturer or distributor rather than as a legal requirement (Japan Mint, Hallmark, Analysis and Testing). A Japan Mint hallmark is therefore a mark of confidence a maker chooses to seek, closer in spirit to a voluntary quality seal than to the compulsory systems of Britain, India or the UAE.
Reading foreign gold at home
For a British owner, the lesson is that gold marks are not universal. A ring bought in Dubai may be stamped 875 or 916, an Indian chain may carry a BIS logo and a six-digit code, and a Chinese piece may read 足金 or 24K. All are legitimate, and all describe purity in the same underlying language of parts per thousand that a UK hallmark uses. If your gold is foreign, unmarked, or simply unfamiliar, it needs testing rather than guesswork, and that is exactly what we do. If you would like a piece identified or valued, Chapman Gold can read the marks it already carries and tell you precisely what you have.
Sources: Bureau of Indian Standards (bis.gov.in); Press Information Bureau, Government of India (pib.gov.in); China national standard GB 11887 via the ANSI Webstore (webstore.ansi.org); World Gold Council (gold.org); UAE Federal Law No. 11 of 2015 (uaelegislation.gov.ae); Gulf News (gulfnews.com); Japan Mint (mint.go.jp). Full links throughout.