Russian legislation sets quite strict requirements for the quality and safety of goods imported from abroad, including China. Absence of documents proving that the goods are in compliance with the required safety standards, is one of the grounds for the Russian custom authorities to stop products at the border (para 7 Article 125 of the Eurasian Economic Union Customs Code). This article will provide you with the main parameters in regards to goods safety regulation in Russia.

Regulation scope
By entering the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in 2010 and World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012, Russia joined the global trend of the unification of goods safety regulations. This triggered the process of the amendment of the national technical regulations by replacing them with unified international analog (Technical Regulations, which will be discussed later). Currently, the requirements for the safety of goods could be split into two main groups: unified international requirements and national level requirements.
Which goods require safety compliance documents? 
Presently, there is no unified list of goods requiring the safety verification to be imported, instead, each level of regulations has a specific list of the goods to be covered. To understand whether your goods shall be due to the related specific requirements, you need to analyze all of the lists prescribed by regulations, whether it be national or international, based on a case by case basis.International Unified Regulations

The international unified requirements prescribed by EEU defined as Technical Regulations (TR) has already reached a total of forty-seven documents.

Examples: drinking water, including natural mineral water (TR EEU No. 044/2017), chemical products (TR EEU No. 041/2017), fish and fish products (TR EEU 040/2016), etc.

In addition to TR requirements, some goods could be required to fulfill EEU requirements related to hygienic and sanitary-epidemiological safety at the national registration system. The full list of goods under the national registration is prescribed by the Section II of the Unified List of Goods Subject to State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance at the Customs Border and the Customs Territory.

Examples: mineral water, child food, products for pregnant and lactating women, dietary products, cosmetics, household products, etc.

National Regulations

Goods not covered by the new EEU TR are still subject to national requirements, in Russia – GOST R. The list of the products required to fulfill GOST R are listed by the Russian Government Decree No. 982 dated by December 1, 2009 (The Unified List of Products Subjects to Mandatory Certification or Declaration).

Examples: railway equipment and rolling stock, diesel, gas turbine, steam locomotives and other goods, etc.

In addition, there are cases in which certain goods, due to the nature of their use, shall fall under requirements prescribed by specific fire safety TR (the new EEU TR will enter into force in January 2020).

Examples: fire alarm system, fire extinguishing powders, portable fire extinguishers, etc.

Which documents may you need to claim safety compliance?
In case your goods are mentioned in any of above-mentioned regulations you may need to provide custom authorities the following corresponding documents:
Requirements
Documents
EACU Technical Regulations
Certificate/Declaration of Conformity
National Registration System
Certificate of State Registration
GOST R
Certificate/Declaration of Conformity
Fire Safety Technical Regulations
Fire Safety Certificate

Note:your goods can be mentioned in more than just one regulation and may be required to obtain more than one safety compliance documents. In order to prevent infringement, it is always better to consult with the relevant certification centers prior to any importation.

In case your goods are not in any list, you are required to obtain the Exemption Letter in order to confirm with the custom authorities the absence of obligatory certification for your products.

How to Obtain Certificates/Declarations/Exemption letter?

In order to obtain the above-mentioned documents, importers or producers of goods are required to apply for verification procedures to the licensed certification organization. Information about all licensed certification centers are listed on the official website of the Federal Service of Accreditation available in both English and Russian languages.

After the submission of an application with the relevant documents and samples, the certification center will inform you on the certification scheme, perform all relevant tests and should your products conform to all relevant requirements, the center will issue and register a certificate/declaration. The time frame for verification could vary from 3 to 30 days depending on the type and volume of goods, the availability of previously obtained certificates and the complexity of laboratory tests.

The sphere of safety standards is still under stages of considerable amendments, frequent cases of overlaps in the different levels of regulations require full attention from importers. If you have any further inquiries about this topic, please feel free to contact us at info@dandreapartners.com.