(1) If, at any time, there is difficulty in assaying and hallmarking of the precious metal articles or in the event of test equipment getting out of order or due to natural calamities or a lock out declared by the management; or directed by a competent court or statutory authority, the assaying and hallmarking centre shall inform it to the Bureau immediately.
(2) As soon as the events which caused the suspension have been removed, the intimation of revocation of the suspension of operations shall be sent to the Bureau immediately.
(3) If, at any time, the Bureau has sufficient evidence that the assaying and hallmarking may not be conforming to the Indian Standard, the assaying and hallmarking centre shall be directed to suspend its operation and such evidence may not be limited to, but may include one or more of the following, namely:-
(i) non-conformity of hallmarked precious metal articles established after in-house or independent testing;
(ii) non-implementation of the provisionof the relevant Standard;
(iii) non-availability of testing personnel and absence of alternate arrangements;
(iv) relocation of assaying and hallmarking centre;
(v) prolonged closure of assaying and hallmarking centre for more than three months;
(vi) assaying and hallmarking on precious metal articles not included in the scope of the recognition;
(vii) non-submission of monthly or yearly statement regarding hallmarking charges collected from certified jewellers;
(viii) non-payment of marking fee to the Bureau within stipulated period.
(4) The assaying and hallmarking centre whose recognition has been placed under suspension shall inform the Bureau about the compliance of its order.
(5) On receipt of corrective actions, a special assessment, if required, may be carried out to verify the effectiveness of the corrective actions.
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(6) The Bureau shall revoke the suspension after satisfying itself that the assaying and hallmarking centre -
(a) has taken necessary actions;
(b) deposited assessment fee as specified in Schedule -II; and
(c) has provided sufficient evidence to establish competence of the centre as per the relevant standard for assaying and hallmarking of precious metal articles.