Certification is a procedure regulated by current legislation, during which a manufacturer or other interested person can confirm the quality of their products to established standards.
Certification procedures in the Russian Federation differ in individual sectors of the economy and are regulated by a large number of general and special regulatory legal acts. Among the main laws that establish the key rules and norms for certification are the laws "On consumer protection", "On standardization", "On technical regulation" and other normative legal acts.
Mandatory certification
The requirement for compulsory certification in the Russian Federation applies only to certain goods and services, the quality of which meets the established standards is a condition for the safety and health of individuals and society as a whole. In addition, an important criterion that the competent authorities are guided by when adding a particular product or service to the list of mandatory certification is their prevalence and mass consumption.
The body responsible for mandatory certification in our country is the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, also known as Rosstandart. It is it that sets the quality requirements for a particular product or service, which they must comply with in order to receive a mandatory quality certificate.
In total, the list of goods and services that are subject to mandatory certification in Russia includes more than 70 items, including food products, electrical appliances, household appliances, weapons and other items. At the same time, this list is periodically updated with the appearance of new products on the market, as well as in the case of tougher requirements for one or another of them. The most famous system of compulsory certification among ordinary consumers for many years has been the GOST system, the designation of which can be seen on a variety of products. However, Rosstandart also supports other mandatory certification systems that are used for certain industries.
Voluntary certification
Voluntary certification is a procedure for assessing the quality of a product or service that is not subject to mandatory certification. In this way, the manufacturer of the product can make it clear to the consumer that, firstly, the quality of his product is high, and secondly, he is ready to be responsible for its compliance with the established standards.
At the same time, the quality standards used in the voluntary certification procedure are developed by the organization that issues the relevant certificates. For example, in the Russian Federation, as elsewhere in the world, certificates issued by various trade unions, associations of enterprises operating in the same field of activity, or government agencies are common. For example, today in Russia there are such systems of voluntary certification as "Rospromtest", "First Register" and others. In addition, at the request of the manufacturer, he can voluntarily undergo the verification of the conformity of the quality of his products to the mandatory tests, having received the appropriate certificate, including GOST.
