The Declaration of Conformity

ANNOUNCEMENT OF IMPORTANT CHANGES WITHIN CERTIFICATION SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The mandatory certification of food products, cosmetics, kitchenware, textiles and household chemicals has been replaced by THE DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY. This change took place on the 15th February, 2010 in accordance with the RF Government Decree № 982 dated 1st December, 2009. The form of declaration (Russian only) is attached.

Declaration is the most responsible form of conformity assessment. It personifies and brings the responsibility for the safety and quality of products to a higher level. The Declaration of Conformity presumes that the manufacturer undertakes all the assessment procedures, the responsibility for its accuracy and the formation of relevant evidence. The risks, which previously were spread amongst the Manufacture, the Testing Laboratory and the Certification Authority, have now become a sole responsibility of the Manufacturer.

Declaration contains:

1. Name and Address of the Manufacturer; Name and Address of the Russian Supplier/Customer; At the moment the Declaration can only be issued to the Russian Domestic Company, but soon a request to issue the Declaration to the Foreign Manufacturer will be launched with «ROSTEHREGULIROVANIE». There is no cause for concern, as we are able to provide our clients with as many Declarations as required in accordance with the number of Russian Customers they might have. In other words, if you have one Russian Customer — one Declaration of Conformity will be issued based on the Testing Result. Alternatively, if you have two or more customers in Russia, two or more Declarations of Conformity will be issued, all based on the same Testing Result.
2. The List of Normative Documents the compliance with which is confirmed by this Declaration, in which the requirements for the products concerned are indicated, i.e. the name/s of the normative document/s which confirm/s that the product conforms to the requirements. The product/s must comply with the rules and regulations previously used in Mandatory Certification of Conformity (GOST R).
3. The Documents used for making a decision on Registration of the Declaration of Conformity (the evidence base). These documents are:
   • Testing Protocols issued by the accredited testing laboratory, which confirm that the listed product/s conform/s to the rules and regulations;
   • Documents issued by the Russian Federal Organisations, such as the Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusions, Veterinary Certificates, Expert Conclusions, Documents of State/Government Registration, Voluntary Gost R. If the product is a subject to one or more of these procedures this must be specified in the Declaration;
   • Safety Certificates, Hygiene and Quality Management System Certificates issued by an independent party (ISO 9001, HACCP, etc.)
4. The Date of the acceptance of the Declaration of Conformity;
5. Declaration of Conformity is valid until; the Declaration is issued for a serial or single shipment/production for the period of validity of the documents used as the evidence, otherwise each case is considered separately by the Authority which is registering the Declaration. In other words, if the Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion (as an example) is valid for 5 years, so will be the Declaration of Conformity or likewise, it will expire on the date the Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion is due to expire.

6. Information about registering the Declaration of Conformity; the Declaration must be registered by the Accredited Certification Authority. The registering Authority assigns Registration Number to each Declaration. This Number contains the code of the Certification Authority and a serial number of the actual Declaration of Conformity. Declaration of Conformity is a legal document the power of which is equal to that of the Certificate of Conformity and is valid throughout the Russian Federation.

Brief additional information:

• the Declaration may be directed for the registration with only one Authority;
• the Authority conducts the checks of all the documents presented as the evidence base;
• the Authority records the Declaration or in case of violation of rules and regulations refuses the registration;
• the Declaration is stored for 3 years after expiration;
• the Registration of Declaration with the Authority is the base for labelling the product with the Mark of Conformity without indication of the code of the registering Authority;
• should the requirements, conditions or production technology, product names, addresses or names of the manufacturer change — a declaration is to be re-issued;

Summary:

all the information specified in the Declaration is sole responsibility of the manufacturer / supplier. Therefore, along with the Declaration of Conformity, we strongly recommend to undergo a Voluntary Certification procedure, the responsibility for which lies with the issuing authority. Voluntary Certification can be used along with other documents used as the evidence base. This is the best way forward, because all the relevant information will be accurate, as it will be checked by the experts within the Certification Authority while issuing of Voluntary Certificates. 


Therefore, we now have a special offer for the registration package of 3 documents: Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion (SEZ) + Voluntary GOST R (VGR) + Registration of the Declaration of Conformity (RDC).

No cause for alarm! The Sanitary-Epidemiological Conclusion has not been cancelled and remains unchanged. So do all other procedures. Mandatory Certification requirements in technical regulations (dairy products, juices, butter-fat) have not been repealed and also remain unchanged.

Shortly there will be an official list published. The list will clearly indicate which products are a subject to Mandatory Certification and which products are a subject to the Declaration of Conformity. For now, it is just a transitional period, which at first glance seems complicated, but we guarantee that we will provide our clients with all documents necessary for a smooth and stress-free supply and sale of their products on the territory of Russian Federation. Present changes in the legislation will not affect their business.