SIRIM QAS International recently unveiled the SIRIM Gold Hallmarking certification scheme, aimed at protecting consumers from irregular gold quality and articles sold in the Malaysian market.  It is a voluntary scheme that applies to either a refinery or a manufacturer with the assaying facilities may enter into the scheme based on the requirements of Malaysian Standard - MS 1247:2005 – Code of Practice on the Description and Marking of Articles of, or Containing, Precious Metal. Applicants also obligated to comply with the Trade Description (Articles Made of Precious Metals) Regulation 1994 of Trade Descriptions Act 1972. Gold bar or articles manufactured and assayed according to either the Malaysian Standard, recognized international standard or foreign national standards are eligible to participate in the scheme. A licensee is entitled to use the SIRIM fineness mark on the product to denote compliance with the standard.