RUSSIAN / CIS CERTIFICATION & LICENSING

What may require Russian certification?

According to Russian Law, more than 60% of all products to be sold and/or used in the country require mandatory certification/licensing, i.e. they should be approved by relevant Russian authorities in terms of compliance to national standards. This concerns both locally produced and imported goods. Moreover, prior to construction of an industrial or civil site in the Russian territory, a number of approvals are required to undertake engineering, construction and other technical activities.

Below you will find the list of product and activity categories subject to mandatory Russian approval:

• Products, services and tools assuring safety for life and health of consumers (e.g. foodstuff, drugs, textiles, electrical appliances, related equipment etc);
• Alcoholic products and equipment for their production;
• Production sites;
• Technical installations at dangerous production sites (e.g. pressure vessels, lifting and hoisting machines, pumps, equipment for mining, petrochemical, oil & gas, metallurgical and other industries);
• Fire-related products;
• Livestock;
• Products assuring safety for life and health of animals (feed, vaccines etc);
• Pesticides and agrochemicals;
• Products and services containing results of genetic engineering activity;
• Energy-consuming products and energy resources;
• Telecommunication equipment, tools and services;
• Information systems, databases and tools to protect them;
• Transportation units, products and services;
• Aerospace machinery;
• Geodesic, cartographical and topographical products;
• Forestry raw materials;
• Gas and coal;
• Nuclear industry products and technologies;
• Arms.

Which types of approval are there in Russia?

Depending on the nature of the goods you are planning to ship to Russia, you may need to comply with one or more certification requirements. There are 18 mandatory certification systems regulated by Laws of the Russian Federation (“GOST R”, “Elektrosvyaz”, “Fire Safety” etc) and over 350 voluntary ones.

Today, GOST R Certificate of Conformity is the most common permissive document in Russia testifying that your product meets necessary safety standards. In the framework of the GOST R certification system there are 48 sub-systems for homogeneous products such as crockery, perfumes and cosmetics, textile and light industry products, chemical products, high voltage electrical equipment, metal processing machinery, oil & gas equipment etc.

However, your project may include any combination of permits, certificates, licenses and other approvals needed for its implementation. To bring to fruition, a large investment project could require up to 500 permissive documents. These include but are not limited to:

• Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion Certificate (formerly known as Hygienic Certificate) for products in contact with human body;
• GOST R Declaration of Conformity for some consumer goods and industrial instrumentation;
• Certificate of State Product Registration for new foodstuff and some other goods presenting a potential danger for human beings;
• GOST R Pattern Approval Certificate for measuring instruments;
• GOST R Ex-Proof Certificate for explosion-proof equipment and materials;
• Fire Safety Certificate for flammable or fire extinguishing products;
• Design Registration at Rostekhnadzor for hazardous industrial sites
• RTN (ex GGTN) Permit to Use for hazardous industrial equipment;
• Rosstroy Certificate for building materials;
• Rosstroy License for engineering and construction activities;
• Environmental Expertise Conclusion for industrial projects ;
• VNIIS Exemption Letter for products that are not subject to mandatory GOST R certification.
• Telecom Type Approval Certificate for telecommunications equipment.

The new Law on Technical Regulation, effective from 01.07.2003, has to gradually replace the existing mandatory certification systems with the new ones before year 2011. About 500’000 currently acting state standards (GOST) have to be replaced by over 1000 statutory technical regulations. Harmonisation of local technical trade barriers with international practices is one of the conditions for Russia to join WTO.

When are Russian permissive documents required?

Approving documents are required at different stages of doing business in Russia, such as:

• Crossing the Russian border;
• Commencing construction works;
• Commissioning of equipment;
• Operation of equipment;
• Concluding sales deal;
• Advertising & PR activities;
• Retail

Do these permissive documents cover all of Russia / all CIS?

As a rule, product-related certificates and permits issued by Russian authorities apply to the whole of the Russian Federation, although the document can be granted by a regional certification body.

However, a Russian certificate is, in principle, not relevant for other CIS countries and vice versa. It is true that historically the former Soviet states had much in common, including similar approval structures. Consequently, there are some certification systems that are mutually accepted by Russian and some CIS countries such as Ukraine and Belarus (e.g. the hygienic certification). Nevertheless, this only concerns goods manufactured in those countries. It means that if a product has been produced in a third country and is to be imported both to Russia and another CIS country, it should undergo local certification procedures in both states.

GOST-K Certificate of Conformity is the most common permissive document in Kazakhstan.

What labeling / marking requirements are there in Russia?

According to the Russian Law №2300-I “About Consumer Rights protection” dated from 07.02.1992, all consumer goods, both food and non-food, exported to and distributed in Russia require Russian language labeling and the sale of imported products without consumer information in Russian is illegal.

Russian labeling has to cover the following items:

• Name of product,
• Country of origin,
• Name and address of manufacturer or any other contact information for consumers,
• How and where the product is to be used,
• The main characteristics and description of the product,
• Safety requirements,
• Conformity certification and licensing information (Mark of Conformity in case of certification);
• Expiration date, if applicable.

This information can be contained on the box, label, or any other appropriate material concerning the product such as technical brochures or manuals.

What Russian Standard Ltd. does not certify or register in Russia:

• Aviation equipment and instruments;
• Products of military nature;
• Telecommunication equipment

The rest of the products we DO certify.

What we do work with list includes but is not limited to the following:

• medical devices and instruments
• medical materials
• dietary/food supplements
• vitamins
• industrial equipment and spare parts
• petrochemicals and equipment;
• consumer goods
• foods and food raw materials
• wine, liquor, beer and soft drinks;
• perfume and cosmetic products
• home electric and electronic appliances and equipment;
• information technologies appliances;
• locksmith and assembly tools;
• stock for garden;
• toys;
• footwear;
• fur and leather goods;
• wooden goods and tare;
• furniture;
• wall paper;
• textile, knitted and ready made garments;
• construction materials
• other

We shall tell you if your products are not subject to mandatory certification. We shall also advise you if the product could and rather would be certified under " voluntary certification" plan.