Certification of goods for export to Russian Federation and CIS countries
The first Law act on certification of goods and services took effect on the territory of Russian Federation in 1993. The law provides for mandatory execution of requirements of standards related to protection of life and health of citizens, property of physical or legal bodies, state or municipal property; protection of environment, life or health of animals and plants; prevention of actions misinforming the buyers. The Certificate of Conformity to these regulations was named the GOST R Certificate. Violation of the certification law results in criminal, administrative or civil liability depending on caused harm.
In addition, there was a Resolution in RF on mandatory certification of products and services (Resolution of the RF Gosstandart No. 64 dd. July 30, 2002 “Range of products and services (works) subjected to mandatory certification”). The products included to this range required acquisition of the GOST system Certificate of Conformity for sale or customs clearance. The letter of exemption or voluntary certificate can be issued for the products not subjected to mandatory certification. The letter of exemption is a confirmation that this product is not subjected to mandatory certification in such certification system. A relevant Declaration of Conformance can be also used to confirm the conformance to established regulation for a relatively small range of products.
The Certificate of Conformity for certain product is issued by the properly accredited certification authorities based on provided product documents, The main document is the test report. In turn, the test reports shall be issued by the accredited testing laboratory after the relevant testing of product samples. In practice, the laboratories can issue such report based on expert review of technical documents for the product only.
The Federal Law on Technical Regulation No. 184-FZ dd. introduces the definition “Technical Regulations” on December 27, 2002. The law separates a concept of technical regulation and standard and establishes the approach for application of standards. Unlike the standards, the technical regulations are mandatory and establishes the minimum requirements for safety and healthy insurance for different kind of products. The Technical Regulations could be compared with the EU Directives, e.g. for Machinery.
Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation have commenced in June 2010 the establishment of the unified technical regulation system. Government agencies of three countries delegate relevant authorities on adoption of technical regulations to the Customs Union Commission. At the same time this Commission coordinates efforts of three countries applicable to technical regulation. The national norms (GOSTs) will be terminated after the technical regulations of the Customs Union become effective. The technical regulations have a direct effect on the territory of three countries. The certification process for this regulation is EAC (Euroasian conformity) certification. Several regulations have been included to the schedule of development of priority regulations of the Customs Union.
The executive bodies are the Eurasian Commission of Customs union. In Russia the Federal Technical Regulation and Metrology Agency of Russia (Rostechregulirovanie) is the executive institution for implementation and control.
Range of goods subjected to certification
Each technical regulation describes the range of goods and services subjected to mandatory certification as per the norms and standards of Eurasian customs union. For example:
- Goods that constitute an immediate threat to human health and life (food, beverages, medication, textile goods/apparel, electric appliances etc)
- Inflammable products and devices
- Conveyor lines and processing machines
- Mechanisms and devices constituting a specific hazard
- Hardware (e.g. pressurized, lifting gear, pumps, equipment deployed for mining, chemical, metal, petroleum industry)
- Pesticides and chemicals utilized in the agricultural sector
- Veterinary goods
The range of products subjected to mandatory certification changes from time to time. We will evaluate the need of mandatory certification of your products by your request.
If your product is not subjected to mandatory certification you can obtain a voluntary certification of conformance with state requirements and regulations. Remember that Certificate of Conformity significantly increases sales possibilities for your products in the territory of Russian Federation and CIS countries.
When the Certificate of Conformity is required
A relevant Certificate of Conformity is required for import of goods to the territory of Russian Federation, Customs union and CIS countries. Therefore, we recommend clarifying the certification issues in advance in order to prevent delays and high demurrage fees.
Validity period of certificates
The single delivery certificate is sufficient for one-time delivery of goods. If you are a manufacturer and plan several deliveries to more than one customer we recommend you to obtain a certificate for serial production for a period of 1, 2, 3 or in some cases 5 years (Certificate of Conformity with Technical Regulations (TR).