Kazakhstan cement market freed from “gray” certificates by 95%
Today was announced by the Chairman of the Committee on Technical Regulation and Metrology - Arman Abenov.
To summarize the first results, today, on April 28th of this year, an online meeting was held with representatives of the association of cement and concrete producers "QazCem" to discuss topical issues of the industry.
Opening the meeting, Minister of Trade and Integration B. Sultanov said that the trade department of Kazakhstan has in its arsenal tools of support and protection, the potential of which intends to use to its fullest in order to support bona fide manufacturers.
During the meeting, the chairman of the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology Arman Abenov spoke about the work carried out to identify counterfeit cement:
- The fight against counterfeit products and work to protect the internal market of CTRM has been going on for a long time, and according to the results of an extensive analysis of the cement industry, such problems as the presence of fake cement and, most importantly, insufficient equipment of the testing base for cement certification were identified.
In order to eliminate the identified problems, the technical regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the safety of buildings and structures, construction materials and products" include a norm on mandatory confirmation of conformity based on the national standard ST RK 3361-2019 "Conformity assessment. The procedure for confirming the conformity of cements".
- This measure will further oblige all subjects of the market to undergo certification of products for compliance with the requirements of our national standard, - said Arman Abenov. - Here it is worth noting that in 2020, after the implementation of ST RK 3361-2019 domestic market has already got rid of 95% of gray certificates and imports from Iran decreased by 65% - from 14 million to 4.9 million U.S. dollars.
As Executive Director of Kazakhstan Association of Cement and Concrete Manufacturers "QazCem" Yerbol Akymbayev noted at the meeting, the standard has become a systematic solution to confirm the compliance of cement and leveled the certification terms between domestic and import producers, and eliminated discrimination against Kazakh producers.
- Another important reason was the lack of requirements for the mandatory minimum amount of tests on the basis of the TL (testing laboratory) of the CAB (Conformity Assessment Body) itself. This gap was in the hands of unscrupulous CAB. Because such CABs, not having testing equipment, could refer to numerous third-party TL, which allegedly conducted testing under subcontract, thereby confusing the experts of NCA and CTRM. And de facto the work of such CABs was reduced only to issuing certificates without actually conducting testing, - concluded Yerbol Akymbayev.
At the same time, since July 1st, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On technical regulation" will come into force in a new version. Now there will be stricter requirements for product safety and the role of state control will be strengthened.
CTRM will perform state control over compliance with the requirements of technical regulations on the basis of appeals and information obtained from information systems. Now it will be possible to take samples of products for testing in laboratories.
In addition, if violations are detected, products will be recalled and withdrawn from the market with penalties.