Products testing and compliance assessment are the crucial components of export support in Russia
Source: http://ria-stk.ru
These are the words from the report on “The Federal Service for Accreditation within the systems of international recognition” delivered by the head of the Federal Service for Accreditation Aleksei Khersontsev at the opening ceremony of the plenary session of the Vth International Export Forum “Made in Russia” attended also by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov. He noted that the promotion of Russian manufacturers’ competitiveness was the primary goal. The head of the Accreditation System reported about the projects, including those from the list of the Government’s instructions, completed since the previous export forum in February 2017.
In May, the priority project “System measures for international cooperation and export development” was amended with the section containing the list of steps aimed at promoting international recognition of testing results of Russian laboratories and compliance assessment agencies. The Ministry of Economic Development together with the Federal Service for Accreditation and the Russian Export Centre, devised a set of events presupposing the continuation of cooperation of the Federal Service for Accreditation with international organizations in the field of accreditation and the creation of opportunities for the recognition of Russian certificates of compliance and the promotion of bilateral agreements between the Accreditation System and international accreditation agencies on mutual recognition of certificates and testing protocols.
The head of the Accreditation System emphasized that “such a position of the Government allowed involving interested parties into the process more actively”. The key event of the 2017 summer was the signing of international recognition documents - The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement (APAC MRA) and the ILAC MRA for the accreditation of testing laboratories (using ISO/IEC 17025) and calibration laboratories (using ISO/IEC 17025) which was preceded by the assessment of the APLAC international audition service.
The special order of the Ministry of Economic Development on a mark of the Federal Service for Accreditation which is combined with the ILAC MRA mark will allow the Federal Service for Accreditation to issue permits authorizing accredited laboratories for printing this mark on testing protocols used by Russian exporters for launching their products on the external market.
The head of the Federal Service for Accreditation explained that though the very fact of the System joining ILAC MRA will not mean by-default recognition of testing results in all areas, “in many significant spheres, it can become an automated process which will help exporting business to cut their expenses”. He provided examples from different fields, including the simplification of technical maintenance procedures for foreign aircrafts in Russia, the construction of nuclear industry objects abroad, and others.
Simultaneously, the Federal Service for Accreditation has been searching for the directions crucial for Russian manufacturers in terms of launching their products on external markets.
It is expected that in 2018, the Guidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council on imported food products control will come into force according to which all cargos and batches imported in the Persian Gulf countries will have to comply with the requirements of the regulations, particularly, the “Halal” certificate will have to be included into the document suite. Therefore, the Accreditation System decided to join the International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF).
The head of the System also invited all interested participants to attend a special seminar for Halal-oriented companies “Global Trade HALAL: challenges and opportunities”, which is going to be held on 29-30 November 2017 in Moscow at the venue of the Ministry of Economic Development in consultation with the Gulf Cooperation Council Accreditation Center (Saudi Arabia).
“The broadening of cooperation with other specialized global organizations, involved in certification and testing, is also our priority. Particularly, the International Electrotechnical Commission, which deals with electrical equipment, ex-proof and other types of equipment,” Aleksei Khersontsev continued.
The Federal Service for Accreditation has already joined the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation. In 2018 the System is planned to be assessed as a national accreditation body by the international experts of this organization. “After that, we plan in 2019 to become the full member of the IAF organization, a global forum responsible for certificate recognition,” the head of the Federal accreditation service noted.
He pointed out that in Russia, the “launching of the GLP project was initiated by Igor Shuvalov when the question was raised about the active participation of Russia in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development”. Since 2013, major efforts have been made, and there are 11 GLP laboratories working now in Russia.
“The system hasn’t yet been recognized by the OECD, although we’ve been creating it in full accordance with all OECD regulations,” Aleksei Khersontsev emphasized and congratulated the Head of the Testing Centre “Agroecology of pesticides and agricultural chemicals” of the Russian State Agrarian University of Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy Anatoli Dovgilevich with the recent confirmation of compliance with GPL principles.
Aleksei Khersontsev also notified that during the negotiations between the Ministry of Economic Development and OECD, an agreement has been reached about a new project within which it is planned to organize regular visits of international GLP experts from OECD countries in Russia in order to increase the expertise level of Russian GLP inspectors and the level of Russian laboratories. “Undoubtedly, our aim is to make our GPL system recognized in OECD countries by 2019, which would simplify chemical products export, as well as the products of fields requiring pre-clinical trials,” the head of the Accreditation System concluded.
