BELLIS Letter No.: 515 dated 01.07.2019 on Current Status of Technical Regulation System Of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)

BELLIS Letter No.: 515 dated 01.07.2019 on Current Status of Technical Regulation System Of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)

Ref. No.: 515 dated 01.07.2019

Current Status of Technical Regulation System

Of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)

Dear Partner,

After having reviewed and systemized multiple enquiries from our partners, we will try to answer the ones that are most sensitive to you:

• Results of market surveillance activities; actions with respect to improper certification bodies/testing laboratories and conformity assessment documents issued by them;

• Acceptance and absence of discrimination of CU EAC Certificates issued by non-Russian certification bodies at the Russian Customs;

• Resolution of the Russian Government No.: 300 dated 21.03.2019 on authorities of Rosaccreditation to cancel/transfer to the archived part of the Register of certificates/declarations which were issued/registered by certification bodies, that violated the conformity assessment procedure;

• Letter of the Federal Customs Service of Russia No.: 16-88/35497 dated 16.04.2019 on mandatory provision of notarized copies of test reports;

• Possibility (legality) for a foreign manufacturer to be an applicant for CU EAC Certification. Actions with respect to certificates issued with improper local representatives being applicants for certification (manufacturer local representatives which are not importers);

• Reasons for ongoing changes in the EAEU/Russia technical regulation system;

• Mandatory RoHS requirements in EAEU which came into force on 01.03.2018 with EAEU Technical Regulation 037/2016;

• Belarus National requirements on energy efficiency/energy labelling (Resolution 849/2016). Current situation with development of EAEU Technical Regulation on energy efficiency;

• Belarus Radio/Telecom requirements that came into force on 01.01.2019 with Technical Regulation TR 2018/024/BY.

1 Results of Market Surveillance Activities

     Based on results of the market surveillance activities conducted in Belarus in 2017 – 2019 by the State Surveillance Authorities, it has been revealed that over 75% of tested electrotechnical products do not comply with the requirements of applicable EAEU Technical Regulations and standards. 855 EAEU Conformity Approvals were cancelled in 2017-2019. Most of CU EAC Certificates/Declarations for the non-conforming products have been issued/registered by the Russian Certification Bodies. List of cancelled CU EAC Certificates/Declarations is published on the website of the Belarus Market Surveillance Authority. A considerable number of cases with negative test results is being currently processed, relevant decisions are being prepared.

     In course of analysis of the market surveillance activity results, a range of certification bodies accredited in the Russian Federation have been identified in 2017-2018 which issue CU EAC Conformity Approvals connected with facts of repeated supplying dangerous products to the territory of Belarus, for example:

1. “GARANT PLUS” Ltd. (Moscow), Accreditation Certificate No.: РОСС0001.11АЛ16; 74 Certificates and 4 Declarations cancelled (electrotechnical products).
2. “Sertifikatsiya productsii “STANDART-TEST” Ltd. (Moscow), Accreditation Certificate:  RA.RU.11АВ24, 21 Certificates and 1 Declaration cancelled (electrotechnical products).
3. “Certifikatsia i ekspertiza" (Moscow), Certificate of Accreditation No.: РОСС0001.10АУ04,  13 Certificates and 1 Declaration cancelled (electrotechnical products and furniture).
4. "ROSTEST-Moscow" CJSC “Regional Body for certification and testing” (Moscow), Certificate of Accreditation No.: RU.0001.10АЯ46, 12 Certificates cancelled (electrotechnical products and clothing).
5. "Certifikatsia i promyshlennaya bezopasnost” (Moscow), Certificate of Accreditation No.: RU.0001.11АУ05, 9 Certificates cancelled (electrotechnical products).

From organizations listed above, accreditation partially has been preserved only by "ROSTEST-Moscow" CJSC – accreditation of the test laboratory of this organization (Certificate of Accreditation No.: RU.001.21 has been cancelled in August 2018.

     Situation on the market continues to remain unsatisfactory. Management of the EAEU Member States started to pay close attention to the problem. This was the reason why the representative from Belarus responsible for EAEU technical regulation (Minister) was prematurely recalled in 2018 from Eurasian Economic Commission.  

     Currently coordination is being strengthened between the EAEU Member States in identifying activities of improper certification bodies and stopping supplies to the EAEU market of non-complying/counterfeit products. At the end of 2018 Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) launched a pilot project on creating an Information System on products non-complying with the EAEU Technical Regulations requirements (6 EAEU Technical Regulations including 004/2011 “Safety of Low Voltage Equipment”, 020/2011 “Electromagnetic Compatibility”, 008/2011 “Safety of Toys”). It is envisaged that when dangerous products (non-complying with the EAEU Technical Regulations requirements) are detected, market surveillance authorities of the Member States will take relevant measures, including removal of such products from the market on the whole EAEU territory.

2 Activities of Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and Russia

     From January 2019 there is no problem at the Russian Customs with acceptance of conformity assessment documents issued by non-Russian certification bodies. The situation has been finally resolved with the Order of the EEC Board No: 57 dated 02.04.2019 which introduced into operation from 01.06.2019 the common process of forming and maintaining unified Registers of certificates/declarations of all EAEU Member States. Moreover, currently attention of the Russian Customs is focused particularly at Russian certificates, taking into account that the majority of the Russian certification bodies issue conformity assessment documents with violations of the rules and procedures.      

    The letter of the Federal Customs Service of Russia № 16-88/35497 dd 16.04.2019 has been circulated via “Consultant Plus” Legal documents database and Internet. The letter is addressed to the Russian Customs Officers and instructs them to perform customs control with mandatory requiring from declarants to provide notarized copies of test reports and customs declarations for test samples if a declarant provides during customs clearance process CU EAC Certificates issued by non-Russian certification bodies. Taking into account signs of forgery in this letter, we contacted Belarus Governmental authorities with a request to initiate investigation as well as Federal Customs Service of Russia to give a publicly available comment on this letter; also we covered this situation in Belarus mass-media. As a result, Federal Customs Service of Russia informed Belarus State Customs Committee that “the letter is fake and contains information which contradicts to the EAEU and Russian Legislation on Customs and Technical Regulation”.

     In the result of adopting Resolution of the Russian Government No.: 300 dated 21.03.2019 (came into force on April 2^nd, 2019), Federal Accreditation Service of Russia (Rosaccreditation) obtained powers, in case of finding violations/receiving information on violations done by a Russian certification body when performing product conformity assessment procedure (not performing or not-complete/improper performing necessary testing/certification works) - to transfer to the archived part of the Register the certificates/declarations of such certification body which were issued during 1 year (or from the date of revealed violation). As a result in case of violations of the conformity assessment procedure by a Russian certification body – all its certificates fall under the risk (including certificates for complying products).

     IECEE Members only (IECEE National Certification Bodies) have the right to work in the recognition mode with respect to the Technical Regulations CU TR 004/2011 “Safety of Low-Voltage Equipment” and CU TR 020/2011 “Electromagnetic Compatibility”: one organization in Belarus – BELLIS JSC and one organization in Russia – FBI ROSTEST (Certificate of Accreditation RA.RU.11РТ01). ROSTEST JSC (Certificate of Accreditation RA.RU.10АЯ46) is not an IECEE Member (IECEE NCB) and does not have the right for recognition (and certificates of this organization are not reflected in the official IECEE statistics on IECEE CB Certificates recognized).

Note: While Federal Budgetary Institution ROSTEST has necessary accreditation, most of CU EAC Certificates are still being issued by the private organization ROSTEST JSC (over 38 000 Certificates, that is more than 99%), besides a big number of Certificates is issued for improper local representatives via consultants connected with them (in particular, “R-Group” Ltd/GMA Consult Group). FBI ROSTEST and ROSTEST JSC are two separate legal entities.   

Note: A manufacturer (including a foreign manufacturer) can be the applicant for certification in accordance with the Technical Regulations CU TR 004/2011 “Safety of Low-Voltage Equipment” and CU TR 020/2011 “Electromagnetic Compatibility”. In case a local EAEU representative is used as an applicant for certification – it shall comply with the requirements of the EAEU Treaty, in particular, it shall release products into circulation on the EAEU market (that is be an importer). Using services of improper local representatives (non-importers) – a significant risk for CU EAC certificates to be cancelled.

     The current state of the technical regulation system is determined by two main reason: dissatisfaction of the EAEU Member States with the ongoing situation and re-distribution of the certification services market in Russia. Significant influence on this situation was made by improper local representatives via their corruption links with the representatives of the technical regulation system. Their activities are currently under scrutiny by controlling and law enforcement agencies.

3 New Mandatory Requirements to Products in EAEU and in Belarus

     3.1 EAEU TR 037/2016 Requirements (RoHS).

The Technical Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union on the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrotechnical and Radio-electronic Products (EAEU TR 037/2016) entered into force on March 1^st, 2018. This TR is harmonized with the EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2). By 01.03.2020 electrotechnical products supplied to the EAEU market shall undergo conformity assessment procedure in acc. with EAEU TR 037/2016 and shall have conformity assessment documents (certificates/declaration) to be issued/registered by an EAEU Accredited certification body. BELLIS is accredited for this Technical Regulation and is fully equipped with necessary test facilities allowing to perform needed testing in acc. with EAEU TR 037/2016 (including covering amendments to be introduced to this TR) as well as EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2).

     3.2 Belarus. Requirements to Radio/Telecom (Technical Regulation TR 2018/024/BY).

"Technical Regulation of the Republic of Belarus: Telecommunication Facilities: Safety. TR 2018/024/BY" became mandatory on 01.01.2019  (and replaced the previous mandatory requirements to Radio/Telecom products set forth in the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Belarus № 849/2016). Telecommunication devices and devices containing radio modules which are released to the Belarus market are subject to mandatory conformity approval procedure. If a product contains a radio module (e.g. notebook with Bluetooth/Wi-Fi), the conformity assessment document shall be issued to the end product (that is e.g. notebook). The main difference of TR 2018/024/BY from previous requirements (Resolution 849/2016) is mandatory product testing in a Belarus accredited testing laboratory (both for certification and declaration procedure) and marking the approved product with a mandatory TR BY mark. It is expected that within a few months control will be strengthened at Belarus customs and retail facilities to check availability of conformity assessment documents in acc. with TR 2018/024/BY.

     We receive information on increased activities on the market of improper local consultants that misinform companies with respect to the conformity assessment procedure to supply products to Belarus market, that can cause serious complications for companies in the future. Trustworthy sources should be used to verify information from consultants.

     3.3 Belarus National Requirements on Energy Efficiency/Energy Labelling (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Belarus No.: 849/2016).

     Belarus National requirements on energy efficiency/energy labelling have been successfully implemented with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Belarus No.: 849/2016 and are effective from 01.09.2017 (for external power supplies/motors); from 01.07.2018 (for most categories of household appliances and IT equipment); from 01.01.2019 (for TV sets/TV monitors and microwave ovens).

     From 26.01.2019 in acc. with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Belarus No.: 759 dd 23.10.2018:

- for lamps mandatory requirements have been enforced with respect to informing consumers;

- the following products are not subject to mandatory energy efficiency conformity approval: drying machines, toasters, electrically operated knives, foodmills, broadcasting receivers; video tape recorders; video recorder cameras; sound-recording devices; other equipment for sound and image record and playback, including equipment for image and sound transmission in ways other than telecommunication channels via signals and other means, except for TV sets.

   Note (EAEU level): The draft of the EAEU Technical Regulation (TR) on energy efficiency is in stage of development. Considering a big number of problems/unsolved issues (the draft of the TR does not take into account latest significant EU changes in the energy efficiency legislation; evaluation of regulatory influence was not properly performed with respect to availability of infrastructure, ecological and economic effects; metrological expertise of the technical regulation was not performed; list of test method standards is missing; drafts of technical sheets and energy labels which need to be approved together with the TR are missing; big number of mistakes in the text of the TR, etc.) a considerable period of time will be needed for it finalizing/approval. This is the reason why the draft of the TR that has been submitted for approval on 21.06.2019, has been declined by the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Gosstandart and Ministry of Industry of Belarus addressed BELLIS with a request to provide proposals on improving the TR. We will be additionally informing you about the results. We would appreciate if you could send us your proposals and recommendations.

     Note (International level): United Nations Organization addressed IECEE with the initiative to create conformity assessment system on a global level in the framework of U4E program. The program is targeted at development and implementation of energy efficiency requirements to energy using electric equipment with further conformity assessment of such equipment (testing and certification).

BELLIS is accredited and performs conformity assessment of electrotechnical products in accordance with EAEU Technical Regulations including EAEU TR 037/2016 as well as Belarus National requirements: TR/2018/024/BY and Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Belarus No.: 849/2016 (energy efficiency).

We will continue to timely inform you on the current situation and planned changes in the technical regulation system of Belarus and Eurasian Economic Union.

Feel free to contact us for any additional information via bellis@bellis.by and/or tel./fax: +375 17 243 16 41.

BELLIS Testing and Certification
of Home Appliances and Industrial Products
Belarus NCB/CBTL/FSB in IECEE
Krasnaya 8, Minsk 220029, Belarus
phone/fax: +375 17 243 16 41
e-mail:  bellis@bellis.by
www.bellis.by