Ulan Batenov, Manager of Legal Department of Mintax LLP, in his article informs about certain amendments in the regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on conformity certification issues.

This article addresses the changes made to the Rules for suspension or cancellation of the issued certificates of conformity or the registration of conformity declarations (hereinafter – the “Rules”).

The seriousness of amendments made to the above Rules is indicated by the fact that the lawmaker did not limit himself to changing some of its norms, but made changes in the form of rewording the Rules by Order of the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan No.30-NK dated February 20, 2020 “On introducing amendments to the Order of the Acting Minister on Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 331 dated March 26, 2015 “On approval of regulatory legal acts on conformity certification issues”.

Initially, the Rules were approved as Appendix 2 to the Order of the acting Minister of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 26, 2015 No. 331 “On approval of regulatory legal acts on conformity certification issues”.

The main difference between the old Rules and the new ones is that the suspension or cancellation of documents in the field of conformity certification can now be performed by both conformity certification bodies and the authorized body that carries out state regulation in the field of technical regulation. That is, the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its territorial units.

Thus, in accordance with paragraph 2 of the old Rules, the validity of issued certificates of conformity or the registration of a declaration of conformity shall be suspended or canceled by the accredited bodies responsible for conformity certification, which carried out the conformity certification, registration of the conformity declaration for this product.

Whereas, in accordance with paragraph 3 of the new version of the Rules, the following bodies shall be able to suspend or cancel the documents in the sphere of conformity certification:

1) a body responsible for conformity certification;

2) authorized body.

What exactly are the conformity certification bodies who had such powers in the sphere of conformity certification under the old Rules?

In fact, these are legal entities that have been accredited by an authorized body in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on accreditation in the field of conformity assessment.

What does it mean that the lawmaker has recognized an authorized body as a subject  authorized to suspend or cancel the effect of documents in the sphere of conformity certification?

In my opinion, this means that perhaps, the conformity certification bodies were not able to ensure an efficient inspection control of products that passed mandatory conformity certification, as provided for in sub-paragraph 5) of paragraph 3 of Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Technical Regulation” No. 603  dated 9 November 2004.

And I believe, this is due to the fact that the conformity certification market is single in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). That is, the conformity certification bodies of any EAEU member country, provided that they are included in the unified register of EAEU conformity assessment bodies, can certify the conformity of goods, works and services of any other EAEU member country, including those imported from third countries.

This became possible thanks to the Agreement on the mutual recognition of accreditation of the bodies responsible for certification (assessment (confirmation) of conformity) and testing laboratories (centers) performing work on assessment (confirmation) of conformity, which was signed by the Republic of Kazakhstan in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 2067 dated 10 December 2009.

An ordinary layman immediately raises the question: How can a conformity certification body located, for example, in the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, properly inspect the goods for which they previously issued a conformity certificate and identify, for example, changes made in the design (composition) of products or their manufacturing technology?

Unfortunately, in most cases, this is not possible.

In this regard, I believe that the introduction of amendments to the Rules is justified, and, most importantly, was carried out in a timely manner.

In accordance with paragraph 4 of the Order of the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan No 30-NK dated February 20, 2020, the new version of the Rules shall enter into force after ten calendar days from the day its first official publication.

According to the data of the “Adilet” Information and Legal System of Regulatory Legal Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Order of the Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 30-NK  dated February 20, 2020 was officially published in electronic form in the Reference Control Bank of Legal Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 24 February 2020. That is, the new Rules should enter into force on 6 March 2020.

As an end user of goods, works and services, I hope that the new Rules will establish order in matters of inspection control of products that have passed mandatory confirmation of conformity.

A person watches himself best when others watch him too. 

(George Savile Halifax)

This material is subject to copyright. Reprinting or other use is prohibited by the copyright holder. The material expresses the opinion of the author and is based on regulatory legal acts in force at the time of publication.