Certification systems
Creation of certification systems in Russia is provided by the Federal Law №184 “On Technical Regulation” Evaluating the product’s conformity to requirements of laws, standards, technical reglaments and other kinds of normative appears to be one of the most important possibilities of providing safety of different kinds of products for humans, environment and the state.
According to the FL № 184 any certification system includes:
- A central certification organ which performs organizational operations within the system;
- Certification organs that must prove their ability to perform activities in expertise and drawing up the certification documents in certain sphere of evaluation of conformity. Only certification organs authorized for such kinds of works, have right to perform such function;
- Certification laboratories performs tests and measurements of safety indicators or quality of the evaluated objects. Such laboratory must have equipment and trained staff (and test methods) to perform its activities. Existence of all the resources is proved by the Attestation of Authorization of the laboratory in the given sphere of activity;
- Applicants are individual entrepreneurs or Russian legal entities (in some cases foreign manufacturers), that intend to go through evaluation process to prove the conformity of their production to the legal requirements or some other certain requirements of the system of certification (to which it applied).
There is a great variety of objects for certification (different products and manufacturing processes, management systems, construction sites, etc.). A little smaller is the lists of risks that may be encountered by using some products and from which consumers should be protected. The variety of certification systems in Russia is explained by these two factors and by the wish of some corporations to introduce their own requirements for the product’s deliverers.
There two big groups of certification systems in Russia: voluntary and obligatory ones. From the names, it is clear that the evaluation of conformity for the objects of obligatory certification system appears to be mandatory requirement for all Russian manufacturers and for the products from abroad.
Obligatory certification
It is only federal state structure who can create the obligatory certification system of Russia. The system must go through the procedure of state registration. The Rosstandart which is responsible for the certification in Russia as a whole keeps a registry of the RF certification systems. Only after receiving the Certificate of state registration with getting the unique registration number, may activities be performed in evaluating conformity as a new system.
There are 16 obligatory certification systems in Russia:
- GOST R;
- Means of protection of information according to requirements of informational security;
- “Electrocommunication”;
- Geodesic, cartographic and topographic production;
- On the federal Railway transport;
- Means of protection of information;
- Security of manufacturing of explosives;
- In the sphere of fire security;
- Means of protection of information according to requirements of security;
- Marine civil vessels;
- On the air transport of the RF;
- Air techniques and the objects of civil aviation;
- Space craft;
- For nuclear sets, the points of storing radioactive materials;
- Means of protecting the information that include the state secret;
- Immune biological preparations.
The obligatory GOST R certification system consists of sub-systems of certificating homogeneous products. The obligatory GOST R certification system consists of 40 sub-systems according to the kinds of homogeneous production. For example, the following sub-systems:
- Medical certification;
- The system of certification oil products;
- The system of certification of dishes;
- The system of certification of electrical equipment (SCE);
- The system of certification of mechanic transport means and trailers;
- The system of certification of gases;
- The “SEPROCHIM” certification system (rubber, asbestos) and many others.
The management of state property in the sphere of technical regulation, organizing and performing works in certification in the GOST R system is performed by the Rostechregulation (former Gosstandart) which appears to be the Federal agency for technical regulation and metrology (now is called Rosstandart). The given agency is part of the structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the RF.
It became the very first and the largest system of evaluation of conformity in Russia and it encompasses all the groups of production that are to be evaluated according to the Federal Law “About protection of Consumers Rights” and it performs the other legislative acts considering separate kinds of goods The authority of the GOST R obligatory certification systems covers also the voluntary GOST R certification system because the applicants for the voluntary evaluation of conformity most often apply this very system.
Voluntary certification
Any Russian citizen may register such evaluation system according to the Law. While creating the system they must set the list of objects to be evaluated on conformity in its frameworks, the indicators and characteristics in accord to which the voluntary certification will be performed, they must also formulate the rules of system and the pay order of the works in certification, and they must define the participants of the given system of evaluation of conformity.
Registration of voluntary certification system is similar to the procedure of registration of the obligatory system. In the case of refusal, the Rosstandart sends to the applicant explanations of reasons why the new system may not be registered. Nowadays there are more than 130 central certification organs that went through the registration procedure.
Examples of voluntary certification:
- Construction materials “Rosstroisertificazia”;
- Personnel and housing services – “Roszhilkommunsertifikazia”;
- Means of cryptographic protection of information;
- The production of the Gosstandart of Russia;
- Production and the quality systems defense industries – “Oboronsertifika”;
- Certification of food “HAASP”;
- Coal production;
- Jewelry (several systems in the given sphere with different names;
- Bio active materials – “BOSTI”;
- Services in the sphere of advertising;
- Evaluation of intellectual property objects;
- Information technologies – “SSIT”.
Corporative voluntary certification systems
- Fuel and energy complex (The System “Teksert”);
- Equipment for the oil-gas industry “Neftegaz”;
- GAZPROMSERT;
Regional national certification systems
- Trading services in Moscow;
- Trading services “Tulasert”;
- Services of gas stations and complexes in Moscow;
- Fuel services in the Moscow Region;
- Services of retail sale in the Sakhalin Region;
- Services of retail sale in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);
- Services of gas stations and complexes of the Urals Region “URALSERT-AZS”;
- Services of retail sale in St. Petersburg and others.