On July 11, as part of the business program of the International Industrial Exhibition INNOPROM-2023, an open session "Technical regulation as a key factor in cooperation between the EAEU and the BRICS and SCO countries" was held.
The main topics for discussion were the prospects of cooperation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) with China, with the BRICS countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the field of technical regulation and standardization, as well as issues of cooperation in the field of certification with friendly countries.
The session was moderated by Andrey Lotsmanov, Deputy Co-Chairman of the Committee of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) on Industrial Policy and Technical Regulation, Chairman of the Council for Technical Regulation and Standardization under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.
In his opening speech, he noted that on the eve of INNOPROM, a session was held to discuss issues of industrial cooperation between Russia and the EAEU with the BRICS and SCO countries, which was attended by Deputy Secretary General of SCO Cooperation Sohail Khan, as well as Deputy Ministers of Industry of the Eurasian Union and a number of CIS countries. The prospects of technical cooperation, industrial cooperation, standardization and digitalization processes were discussed at this session. "Today's event, which our Committee prepared jointly with other working bodies of the RSPP – the Department for International Bilateral Cooperation and the Commission on the Construction Complex, can be considered a continuation of the process of discussing this topical topic," said Andrey Lotsmanov.
Executive Vice-President Maria Glukhova welcomed the participants of the session on behalf of the RSPP.
"Now that Russian business has been subjected to unprecedented sanctions pressure, including in the field of technical regulation, standardization and certification, we need to activate integration processes. The RSPP has been actively involved in such processes that take place within the framework of the EAEU for a number of years, cooperates with national authorities, the Eurasian Economic Commission. At the same time, technical regulation is one of the most effective practices of building supranational regulation, it is a driver of integration processes.
The RSPP Committee on Industrial Policy made a very correct decision, suggesting that this year the topic of technical regulation in the BRICS and SCO space should be discussed. This is a new, but already a priority area in the activities of the RSPP, given that we are talking about economic cooperation with states that account for 30% of the world economy. In this regard, we believe that the experience accumulated at the EAEU site in the field of technical regulation and standardization will be useful and in demand for the development of cooperation with the BRICS and SCO countries, primarily with the People's Republic of China," Maria Glukhova said.
Viktor Nazarenko, member of the Board (Minister) for Technical Regulation of the EEC, made a report on "Technical regulation of the EAEU: Development of a mechanism for the admission of products to the market."
One of the most important tasks he called the activation of the processes of harmonization of our standards with foreign ones.
"It is very important to us that we, together with our partners from other countries, including those belonging to the SCO and BRICS, go forward together. Now the level of harmonization of standards, for example, for high–voltage equipment is over 90%, but in mechanical engineering it is much lower. In order to trade successfully and cooperate with our foreign colleagues, it is important to work actively in this direction. We are now moving to system-level work on both technical regulations and standards. It is also very important that our conformity assessment system is built in such a way that it can effectively protect our market, but at the same time be recognized in other states. We will have to study well on what principles conformity assessment systems are built in other countries, in what areas it is necessary to work for their convergence," Viktor Nazarenko said.
"Standardization as a driver of Eurasian Economic integration" is the topic of the report delivered at the session by Anton Shalaev, Head of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology.
"At the moment, we have gained unique experience in applying standards developed within the framework of one integration entity – the CIS, for the purpose of ensuring the quality and safety of products within another integration entity – the EAEU. At the same time, the countries of the Eurasian Union have different legislative principles in the field of standardization, metrology, there are their own peculiarities in conformity assessment systems. Strategic directions for the development of the Eurasian standardization system until 2025 have now been determined. Standards that are being developed in different countries of the Eurasian Union are used for technical regulation within the EAEU. At the same time, today the Interstate Council for Standardization is one of the most effective platforms within the CIS," Anton Shalaev said.
He noted that cooperation with other countries is successfully developing. In particular, for 15 years there has been a permanent Russian-Chinese working group on standardization, metrology, conformity assessment and inspection control, as well as a number of industry working groups. Lists of mutually recognized standards in various industries have already been formed. Joint standardization work is being carried out very actively with another BRICS state – India. Cooperation with Iran has been launched – both on standardization and metrology.
According to the head of Rosstandart, the time has come to use the colossal experience of cooperation to enter the BRICS and SCO platforms.
Marina Kopkina, Deputy Director of the Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, in her speech analyzed the Russian prospects for international cooperation in the field of standardization, spoke about the results of analytical studies of the development of the BRICS and SCO technical regulation systems.
"The role of the MGS in the development of the quality infrastructure of the Eurasian region" – the topics of the speech by Vladimir Chernyak, Director of the Bureau for Standards, Executive Secretary of the MGS.
Konstantin Leonidov, Chairman of the Committee on Technical Regulation, Standardization and Product Quality of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, made a presentation on "Product quality assurance as a key element of the technical regulation system".
Andrey Lotsmanov in his speech analyzed the actual tasks of combining the systems of technical regulation and standardization of the BRICS, SCO and EAEU.
"A very important event took place in May of this year: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited China. During the visit, a joint decision was made on the need to interface the systems of Russia and China. It was not only about trade, but also about joint projects. This topic found its development on May 25 at the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum, which was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, heads of the EAEU member states," Andrey Lotsmanov said.
He noted that if earlier our main partners in the field of standardization and technical regulation were European countries that work according to common directives, common standards, today each of the BRICS countries has its own standardization system, but at the same time the first steps are already being taken to bring these systems closer together. Real cooperation is impossible without convergence of standardization and technical regulation systems.
"We have been building our system similar to the European one for twenty years. It was a very useful experience. But today we need to do the same work with new partners from the SCO and BRICS. Our Committee has extensive experience working with China, the first joint conference was held back in 2010. Rosstandart attracted the Committee's experts to participate in the work of the Russian-Chinese Working Group on Standardization," said Andrey Lotsmanov.
Chairman of the Russian-Chinese Guild of Commerce (ANO SOVED) Pavel Kiparisov in his speech spoke about the features of trade and economic cooperation in modern realities based on the experience of trade and investment projects of the Russian-Chinese Guild of Commerce.
Andrey Kopytin, Director of the FAA "Federal Center for Standardization, Standardization and Technical Conformity Assessment in Construction", informed the participants about the development of the draft Technical Regulations of the EAEU "On the Safety of Building Materials and Products".
"Product quality control in conditions of limited inspections" is the topic of a speech by Lyubov Bondar, President of the Association for Technical Regulation.
Tatiana Kiseleva, Editor-in-chief of RIA "Standards and Quality" publishing house, made a presentation on "Tools for the formation, promotion and evaluation of the business reputation of an exporting company".
The event, of course, was an important step towards the development of integration processes of Russia, the EAEU with the BRICS and SCO countries.
