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| A customer of Bao Tin Minh Chau Gold and Jewellery JSC finds his gold product of lower gold content from what is written on the stamp. — Photo dantri.vn |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Locals can test gold content free of cost in a month when a company that conducts such tests goes into operation, a Viet Nam Gold Trading Association (VGTA) official said.
Nguyen Thanh Truc, deputy chairman of the VGTA, said that the Viet Nam Gold and Jewellery Testing Company will be launched in Ha Noi and HCM City first, setting up points for free checks on in order to protect the rights of consumers.
Last week, a customer of Bao Tin Minh Chau Gold and Jewellery JSC found he was provided with a gold product with a lower gold content. The customer only realised the fact when he tried to sell the product back to the shop he had bought it from.
The company then took the responsibility of wrongful handling of the product to another client at the same time.
While gold is always considered one of the favourite forms of saving, Truc, an expert in gold trading, said, "Since there is no independent gold tester as yet, customers face risks when buying gold."
Truc thought that it was a bit late for such a company to be set up, but added that the current assigned testers that were assigned by the General Department of Quality Measurement Standards were not enough to carry out testing work for everyone.
Under the tradition of keeping gold as a safe asset, many locals buy and keep gold in Viet Nam. Earlier, the association chairman Nguyen Thanh Long estimated there were some 500 tonnes of gold held as savings by locals.
Truc also suggested that gold buyers should check their products at reputable businesses such as Saigon Jewelry SJC, JSC Phu Nhuan Jewelry Corporation or Agribank gold trading section till the mentioned company was launched.
Nguyen The Hung, a VGTA member said the government's Circular 22 that took effect in June 2014, regulating all gold jewellery traded in the local market, must be written as the product code with the correct gold content or gold traders would receive sanctions.
Thus, Hung said gold traders must take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness on the stamp. However he also advised gold buyers to ask the seller to scale the gold products before receiving it with ready-pasted stamp with the gold content.
Hung said that before a free tester was launched, people could have their gold content checked at reputable businesses at a cost of between VND15,000 and VND20,000 for each product. — VNS