Measures to combat gray certificates were approved at a meeting of the EEC Council

On October 17, 2022, at the initiative of Kazakhstan, the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission approved a list of measures to optimize the mandatory requirements of the EEC for products, including in terms of its mandatory assessment of compliance with the established requirements. Thus, in the perimeter of the EAEU countries, an action plan has been adopted to combat certificates issued with violations («gray» certificates).

According to Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin, the adopted document provides for the revision of the EAEU acts, which will exclude cases when, for example, hundreds of thousands of units of goods are imported for one declaration, one test report issued per batch. The list of measures also includes the implementation of an action plan for the rapid exchange of research protocols between the EAEU member states and the creation of a unified register of protocols.

- Currently, to verify test reports issued in another country of the Eurasian Economic Union, it is necessary to make a request to this state and wait up to two months for a response. During our waiting time, the product is already dissolving in the market. The rapid exchange of information will allow us to receive confirmation of the protocol from our neighbors in 1-2 days. Then we will be able to quickly identify «gray» certificates and prevent potentially dangerous goods from entering the country's market,- Serik Zhumangarin said.

The issue of optimizing the mandatory requirements of the EAEU for products for their compliance with the established requirements was initiated by Kazakhstan this year at the March meeting of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission. According to the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in 2021, Kazakhstani applicants received about 25 thousand certificates in one of the EAEU countries. While Kazakhstan has all the conditions for conducting a conformity assessment for similar products. A few months after the initiation of this issue, the EEC prepared and now, in October, approved a list of measures that will limit the opportunities of Kazakhstani entrepreneurs to obtain «gray certificates» in other countries.

Also at the EEC meeting, issues of the electric power market, cryptographic protection of means of identification of goods, the formation of common markets for gas, oil and petroleum products, the development of a unified analytical system for the administration of electronic trade in goods and others were considered. It was decided to hold the next meeting in person in Moscow, on November 18, 2022.