Tools of technical regulation in protecting the interests of industry were discussed at the NRB

The Russian Business Week, which runs from February 16 to 20, is a key event of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, during which proposals on relevant areas of government-business cooperation are formed and discussed.

On February 16, 2026, the NRB forum "Instruments of Technical Regulation in protecting the interests of domestic Industry" discussed the use of technical regulation, standardization and conformity assessment tools to protect the interests of manufacturers in Russia and the EAEU countries.

The discussion, led by Andrey Lotsmanov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs' Committee on Technical Regulation, was attended by Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Dmitry Volvach, Head of the Federal Accreditation Service, Dmitry Kuznetsov, Deputy Head of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Technical Regulation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viktor Nazarenko, Chairman of the International Association "Export Product Quality Support Center", Head of the State Control Department and supervision of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology Vladimir Timofeev, President of the Association for Technical Regulation "ASSTR" Lyubov Bondar and others.

Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, noted that the RSPP surveys demonstrate the extremely high importance of technical regulation issues, including as an effective mechanism for protecting Russian manufacturers from unscrupulous foreign competitors. Most of the companies surveyed believe that mandatory requirements of technical regulations and mandatory standards can protect Russian manufacturers.

Alexander Shokhin summed up the main achievements of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs over the past year in the field of technical regulation. Among the most important tasks for the future, he named the expansion of the use of digital solutions in the field of technical regulation, including smart standards; the possibility of introducing notification procedures in the Russian Federation in addition to the existing accreditation procedure for conformity assessment bodies; unification of approaches to state control (supervision) throughout the EAEU; assistance to domestic exporters on removing technical barriers and ensuring the quality requirements of foreign markets.

Dmitry Volvach, head of the Federal Accreditation Service, announced that more than 80% of goods sold on the market have been covered by mandatory compliance requirements. He also said that, by the end of 2025, 399 new laboratories and 90 new certification bodies have been accredited, which in the future have every prospect of being included in the national part of the register in order to participate in issuing certificates throughout the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Volvach called the sphere of accreditation constantly developing, focused the audience's attention on the support of domestic certification equipment and the active international exchange of information within the EAEU.

"We would like each of our new days, new months, and new quarters to bring us to a higher level of standards and requirements, rather than lowering requirements and standards because, for example, it is necessary or convenient. The result of the activities of all our accredited persons, not only Rosaccreditation, but also the entire system is product safety, the health of our citizens, and ensuring equal competitive conditions," concluded the head of Rosaccreditation.

Dmitry Kuznetsov, Deputy Head of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Technical Regulation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stated the need to strengthen state control and supervision over compliance with mandatory requirements of technical regulations in the interests of protecting domestic industry.

Dmitry Kuznetsov said that the plan of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economic Development provides for the establishment of a new type of state control: federal state control-supervision of compliance with mandatory requirements for certain types of industrial products.

The draft of the relevant federal law, which will enter into force on September 1, 2026, provides for amendments to the federal law on industrial products and the introduction of a new type of state control, as well as recognition of the invalidated norm in the law on technical regulation, which established the temporary type of state control of Rosstandart.

Vladimir Timofeev, Head of the Department of State Control and Supervision of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, elaborated on Rosstandart's experiment on state control of certain types of building materials and products (cable and wire products, various types of cement, building and concrete mixtures and mortars, as well as heating convectors and radiators) in the period from September 1, 2024 until September 1, 2026.

"Professional participants analyzed the markets of their products themselves and submitted their calculations for approval by the State Commission for Combating Illicit Trafficking in Industrial Products. The share of unsafe cable products in 2023 was 21%. Radiators of heating convectors — 18%, cement products — 22%," Timofeev said.

He explained that the supervisory measures within the framework of the experiment are aimed at reducing the volume of counterfeit and non-compliant products in certain product groups. The experimental results objectively reflected the concerns of market participants. Viktor Nazarenko, Chairman of the international Association "Export Product Quality Support Center", outlined external challenges for the EAEU common market. Today, according to him, unfair competition is expanding due to the low cost of products with reduced characteristics, including unjustifiably issued compliance documents. In these circumstances, businesses need to decide which technical barriers need to be set up in order to work with their partners on equal terms.

Following the results of the forum, organizations and associations of industry and business were recommended to take an active part in the formation of a list of technical barriers to trade faced by domestic exporters when supplying their products to foreign markets, in order to organize systematic work to reduce them.

The resolution of the forum will be sent to the federal executive authorities of the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Economic Commission.