Confirming safety of the imported goods

The present Article provides information on the rules of confirming safety of the goods imported to the customs territory of the Customs Union of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.

The main functions of the safety requirements is the protection of 1) life and health of people; 2) property; 3) ecological environment; 4) life and health of animals and plants; 5) prevention of misunderstanding of the consumers; 6) energetic efficiency and resource preservation. The application of the safety requirements for other purposes (e.g. the use of the provisions of the technical regulations in order to substantiate the collection of customs payments, etc.) is not required.[1]

The legislation of the Customs Union on technical regulation establishes single requirements in respect of the conformity confirmation of the goods imported to any of the states of the Customs Union. The major legislative acts of the Customs Union on technical regulation regarding confirming safety are as follows:

Some specific requirements on confirming safety of the equipment and spare parts to it are also stated by the technical regulations of the Customs Union. Such CU technical regulations are effective on the territory of the whole Customs Union directly (i.e. no additional legislative or sub-legislative acts have to be issued by the Customs Union or its member-states in order to enforce such technical regulations).[2] In particular, the confirmation of conformity of different types of equipment is regulated by the following technical regulations:

Responsible person

Following the general rule the conformity to the CU technical regulation may be confirmed by one of the following legal entities, registered on the territory of one of the states of the Customs Union (e.g. in Russia):

The conformity declaration in respect of the goods, produced in one state of the Customs Union and shipped to another state of the Customs Union (i.e. in mutual/internal trade with respect to the goods, originating from the states of Customs Union) may be issued by 1) the producer; 2) by the supplier of the state of destination, whichever is envisaged by the national legislation of the state of the Customs Union. The latter legal entities are responsible for the observance of the CU technical regulations.[4]

However, in practice, the party, responsible for the observance of the confirmation of conformity is determined on case-by-case basis and depends on the conformity confirmation procedures and schemes applied under the import of the equipment and spare parts to it into Russia. The provisions of the specific technical regulations of the Customs Union, established with respect to specific types of equipment may also establish additional requirements with respect to the legal entities, which are responsible for the conformity confirmation (please see the Guidelines below).

 

Guidelines

The products which are subject to obligatory requirements in frame of the Customs Union are indicated in the Single List stated by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 526 dated 28 January 2011 (hereinafter - the Conformity list). In respect of all these products the CU technical regulations should be issued. The conformity requirements, established by the national legislation of the states of the Customs Union, should be applied to these products till the respective CU technical regulations come into force[5]. The states of the Customs Union should not establish any conformity requirements with respect to the goods that are not included into the above Conformity list.[6]

If the CU technical regulation is established to the respective type of products, the unified conformity documents may be obtained in respect of them on the form stated by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 293 dated 25 December 2012.

The products in respect of which the same conformity requirements are applied in all three member states of the Customs Union, but in respect of which the CU technical regulation has not been issued, are included into the Single list established by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 620 dated 7 April 2011 (hereinafter – the Single List). In respect of these products the certificates of conformity and declaration of conformity according to the unified forms may be also obtained. The forms of the above documents are established by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 319 dated 18 June 2010. These forms differ from forms established by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 293 dated 25 December 2012.

Please note that in respect of such products (i.e. included into the Single list) the certificates of conformity and declaration of conformity in accordance with the national legislations of member States of the Customs Union may be also issued on the choice of the applicant. As soon as the CU technical regulation is established with respect to such products, they are excluded from the Single list and are subject to the respective CU technical regulation since the date it comes into force.[7]

The products which are included into the Conformity list, but not included into the Single list (i.e. the conformity requirements applied in respect of such products are different in member states of the Customs Union), are subject to obligatory assessment (confirmation) of conformity according to the national legislation of the member states of the Customs Union. In Russia the list of such goods is stated by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation № 982 dated 1 December 2009 and the Information provided by the Federal Customs Service which is published on its official WEB-site[8].

Besides, in some cases the CU technical regulations envisage that certain issues should be regulated by the national legislation of the states of the Customs Union directly (e.g. some conformity confirmation procedures, state control measures, liability for none-observance of the CU technical regulations, etc.).

Equipment, which is subject to CU technical regulations, may be released for circulation on the territory of any of the states of the Customs Union only under the condition that the safety/conformity of such equipment is confirmed in accordance with the requirements of the respective CU technical regulation[9], excluding, in particular, the following goods:

Etc.

The CU technical regulations may establish different requirements with respect to the goods, in particular:

- Production;

- Installation/construction;

- Adjustment;

- Exploitation (use);

- Storage;

- Transportation;

- Sales;

- Utilization.

 

EEC is also authorized to establish the list of the international, regional and national standards to be applied to perform research (tests), measurements and sample selection under the performance of the above assessment.[11] The CU technical regulations may also establish the list of international, regional and/or national standards of the states of the Customs Union the observance of which is not obligatory. However, if such standards are observed on voluntary basis it should be considered as the observance of the respective CU technical regulations. Irrespectively of the above, none-observance of such standards should not be considered as none-observance of the CU technical regulations.[12]

Forms of assessment of conformity of the goods to the requirements of the CU technical regulations

Following the general rule assessment of conformity of the goods subject to the respective CU technical regulations may be performed via one of the following forms:

In particular, according to the Technical regulation TR TS 010/2011 on the safety of machines and equipment, established by the Decision of the Commission of the Customs Union № 823 dated 18 October 2011 depending on types of machines/equipment the conformity assessment of the equipment, subject to the above CU technical regulation may be performed in the form of either 1) conformity declaration; or certification (the types of equipment, subject to conformity declaration or 2) certification are listed in Annex 3 to the above Technical regulation). Besides, CU technical regulations, listed in the Introduction above, establish special conformity requirements with respect to specific types of equipment.

The conformity assessment (confirmation), including certification/registration of the conformity declaration, is performed by the certification authorities, included to the Single register of the certification authorities and test laboratories of the Customs Union (http://www.tsouz.ru/db/techregulation/Pages/link1.aspx). Any research (tests) of the goods should be performed by the laboratories (centers), included to the above Single register as well.[13]

Obligatory conformity confirmation may only be performed via 1) conformity declaration; or 2) certification. [14] Such obligatory conformity confirmation should only be performed if it is directly envisaged by the CU technical regulation. The obligatory confirmation is required to confirm the conformity of the CU technical regulations requirements only (i.e. not any other requirements or standards). However, CU technical regulations may envisage that the procedure of conformity confirmation should be established by national legislation of the states of the Customs Union. Moreover, the state control of the observance of conformity with the CU technical regulations is performed in accordance with the national legislation of the states of the Customs Union as well.[15]

The goods are allowed for free circulation on the territory of the whole Customs Union only after they have passed the conformity confirmation procedures. Such confirmation procedures may be passed in any of the states of the Customs Union subject to following conditions: [16]

1) such goods are subject to identical obligatory conformity requirements in all the states of the Customs Union;

2) such goods are subject to identical forms of conformity confirmation;

3) such goods are subject to identical schemes of conformity confirmation;

4) such goods are subject to identical research (test) and measurement methods;

5) the certification is performed by the certification authority, included into the Single register of the certification authorities and test laboratories ;

6) the tests are performed by a laboratory, included into the Single register of the certification authorities and test laboratories;

7) the certificates/conformity declarations are issued following the Single form, established by the Decision of the Eurasian Economic Commission № 293 dated 25 December 2012.

 

Conformity assessment (confirmation) schemes,

According to clauses 2 and 6 of the Procedure, approved by the Decision of the CCU № 621 dated 7 April 2012 (hereinafter - the Procedure) the conformity of the products to the technical regulations of the Customs Union may be confirmed by application of standard schemes of conformity certification and conformity declaration. The exhaustive list of procedures applicable for confirmation with respect to specific type of equipment is established by the respective CU technical regulations. The type of schemes to be applied is established by the CU technical regulation, providing the conformity requirements with respect to a certain type of products. Therefore, different conformity confirmation schemes may be established with respect to different types of goods, subject to the same CU technical regulation. As a rule, based on the clause 17 of the Procedure the CU technical regulations provide several standard conformity confirmation procedures, any of which may be chosen by the applicant. Therefore, the applicant may choose any of the provided standard procedures taking into account the peculiarities of his own business processes.

Storage of the documents

Following the general rule the conformity declaration/certificate and the confirming documents should be kept by the producer for 10 years since the date of production of products. Sellers/importers should keep the above documents for 10 years since the date of sales of the respective products.

Liability

None-observance of the requirements of the CU technical regulations may result in the following risks for the importer: