"GOST is a voluntary tool"

Russia is breaking records in terms of the reduction of counterfeiting in the markets. Compared to last year, the average share of counterfeiting in our country has decreased by half. Also, over the past year, several new unusual GOST standards have been introduced: from the beauty industry to bananas. This was stated by the head of the Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo). Maxim Protasov told Izvestia on June 3 on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). Read more about new technologies, international cooperation and the fight against counterfeiting in the material.

"Knowledge and trust in the Russian quality mark is constantly increasing"

— How is the attitude of Russians towards the quality of goods changing and is it changing? Do you notice any trends in the consumer behavior of Russians?

— The research of the Roskachestvo Consumer Behavior Research Center answers both of these questions. We conduct quarterly surveys of our citizens. Plus, our social networks are actively working. We constantly ask our citizens about certain trends in their consumer behavior. If we talk about the quality ratio, we are pleased with the figures. These figures can be divided into two parts: the first is the attitude to quality goods and to quality in principle. That is, despite any economic situation, and especially in post-war times, attitudes towards quality, healthy nutrition, and the quality of other goods are constantly changing for the better. For example, even before covid, 52% of citizens answered positively to the question: "Will you choose a quality product if it is expensive?", but now more than 60% of our citizens answer "Yes, we will choose." And this is an important question, because a person, in fact, shapes his consumer behavior.

Knowledge and trust in the Russian state quality mark is also constantly increasing. Now 51% of our citizens know him. And the revived quality mark, you know, is just over 10 years old. Last year we celebrated his tenth birthday. It was revived in 2015 on behalf of the President of our country. And trust in the Russian quality mark of 80% is the highest level of trust among any brands and trademarks that exist on our market.

If we talk about consumer trends and consumer behavior, then we can note a rather important trend here. Firstly, we are developing our own brands, now not only traditional retail chains, but also marketplaces. This is a trend that partly creates a challenge for existing brands on the market, including domestic ones. Because both retail chains and online networks launch their own brands. At the same time, work on the quality of these brands in recent years, including with the participation of Roskachestvo experts, has led to the fact that now only 11% of our citizens say they doubt the quality of STM products. This figure was 6-7 times higher a few years ago. This is a really important trend regarding the restructuring of the Russian market.

Nevertheless, if we talk about trust in Russian brands in general, and not just in trademarks, then we are pleased with the growth of this trust. Now more than 70% of our citizens trust Russian trademarks. In general, there are product categories where these figures are lower, but now this figure is increasing on average.

The growth of the ready—to-eat market is a trend that should be noted. We have already talked once about how consumers, fortunately or unfortunately, are gradually abandoning cooking at home. But in numbers, it really looks like a new serious trend right now. 44% of Russian consumers say that every week, at least once a week, they purchase one or another product of the so-called ready-to-eat industry, that is, what is sold in retail chains already prepared. There was no such trend a few years ago.

We see a trend towards a healthy lifestyle. This is important for us from the point of view of demography. We can be proud of the figure that consumers are voicing, because 84% of our citizens say that they strive for a healthy lifestyle, including a healthy diet. But striving is one thing, following is another. In this sense, it is important for us that this desire in the style of "I will lead a healthy lifestyle from Monday" is really expressed in the actual consumption of healthy food, including functional nutrition, which is developed and certified by Roskachestvo, and other segments of healthy nutrition. We are working on it.

— Which products are you planning to inspect this year? And if you name them, then maybe what is the reason for such a choice?

— I will name a few categories that are not directly related to what Roskachestvo usually explores. We usually look at basic consumer goods and food, what is in our refrigerator at home. And here, step by step, category by category, over the years, we have been putting these product groups in order. But this year, together with colleagues from Rosstandart, we decided to check the so-called metrological product line. These are tonometers, scales, thermometers. Something that has not been tested before. International quality agencies regularly review these categories, including because our lives often depend on their work. When a person measures blood pressure, it is necessary that the products show the correct level.

We examined the floor scales. And unfortunately, every fifth scale in our study, every fifth brand showed incorrect results. Here's what to do if you follow a healthy lifestyle, but the scales show you the wrong result? What you wanted to see, but not what corresponds to reality, does not improve the consumer's quality of life.

— Which product categories have shown the highest number of violations recently?

— Unfortunately, we find the biggest and most striking violations in the light industry. These are shoes and clothes. This is also due to the large number of imports, including through channels that are not completely controlled. We have quite a lot of goods being imported. Among other things, through online trading — unfortunately, still bypassing the correct certification schemes for product verification. Although here colleagues from Rosaccreditation are doing a lot of work to restore order in the certification body market and purge the so-called "artists" who draw certificates from it. But they are located not only in the Russian Federation. And so far, in this market, we are detecting a sufficient number of violations both due to the condition of the fabric, when one type of fabric is claimed and another is revealed, and, unfortunately, due to the quality of the fabric. And these are the factors that affect our well-being, the well-being of our children. Because we are talking about both children's clothes and children's toys, if we talk about childhood goods. Therefore, of course, we have to work very seriously with this category, which we will certainly do.

If we talk about food categories, I believe that we have practically solved the issue of honey. We have reduced the amount of counterfeit goods on the Russian market by five times in a fairly short period of time. But from today's figure, which is 19%, we have to lower this level of falsification to zero. Because it is absolutely unacceptable for Russian consumers to purchase a crop product — wheat or corn processing — instead of bee products. Of course, both the beekeepers themselves and you and I, as consumers, suffer from this.

— The question is about successful cases, when the quality of goods has improved after your inspections. Are there any other examples besides honey?

— Quite a few examples can be given. We researched the dietary supplements market, and unfortunately, in the course of the research we came across unregistered products without state registration, products with ingredients banned in Russia, and biologically active additives in excess of the norm of daily or even monthly consumption, that is, with a significant excess of the norm. Serious work was carried out with the marketplaces where these products were sold. The cards are locked and closed. This work will continue further.

"Green" products and products where information is applied to the packaging that it is a "green product", "organic product", "bio-product", "eco-product", including in the segments of cosmetics and household chemicals — this is the so-called "green camouflage". In fact, these are sales of ordinary products under the guise of some kind of ecological or especially clean. We have practically done away with this in the country in two ways. The first is constant work with retail because only certified products can be sold there. And here, too, I would like to thank my colleagues from Rosaccreditation, because they are currently working to disclose their database of accredited and certified goods to the market. And if any outlet, any consumer, has this information, then, accordingly, they will not purchase goods that have not received a certificate. A large block was also related to the standardization of "green cosmetics", organic ingredients in household chemicals, and cosmetics.

"If you comply with GOST, you get a market advantage"

— You mentioned standards. It seems to me that GOST standards have been introduced for everything: white bread, bananas, and even manicures and pedicures. That is, GOST standards are applied to everything. Do you think this is an excessive measure? Maybe this, on the contrary, will discourage manufacturers from meeting any standards and conditions that are required of them?

— GOST is a voluntary tool. Its execution is voluntary. At the same time, Russian consumers have great respect and trust for the term "GOST" and for products that are certified to certain standards. We can see this from the family of marks of compliance with various GOST standards that Roskachestvo issues based on the results of strict certification. By the way, today is the Day of the Convention and Exhibition Industry - in fact, a holiday for those colleagues who organize the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum for us. And on this day, today, the first operator received the first certificate in our country for compliance with a new standard — the standard of event events. Today, Roskachestvo has issued such a certificate to our colleagues from Roscongress. This is also GOST, this is also a requirement, but they have adopted this strict certification in order to confirm their compliance with this strict standard both on the Russian and international markets. For what? In order for consumers of their services (in this case, buyers of their services) to understand that they are currently operating in strict accordance with Russian international standards, which means they receive an additional trading advantage in providing their services.

If we are talking about the tourism industry, that is, about GOST standards related to the tourism industry and the hospitality industry, then this is the certification of "green" hotels, campsites, and hotels for the requirements of family tourism. This topic was discussed at one session today. By receiving confirmation for the client that you really meet this strict standard — GOST — you thus gain a market advantage. You match, but another hotel or another product or another manufacturer doesn't match. This gives and, firstly, encourages the company itself to meet these standards and work better. And secondly, of course, it attracts new customers, new consumers of your service. That is why I believe that the industry of national standards and GOST standards will continue to develop.

— How much do Russians trust the term "GOST", and what is Roskachestvo doing for this trust?

— Yes, GOST is not discredited, thank God. For many years, probably 5 or 6 years, we have been purging products from the market that called themselves "GOST-certified", loudly wrote GOST, but in fact did not comply with GOST at all. The credibility of the GOST term and the credibility of the Roskachestvo certification were not lost.

Now, if you go back to the hospitality industry, you know that the credibility of hotel stars has been discredited in our country for a long time. We often came to a four-star hotel, but this hotel did not match the quality of the four stars at all. At the moment, the reform that the Ministry of Economy has carried out should, in fact, restore confidence in GOST standards and stars in this field.

— For what goods and categories of services does Roskachestvo plan to introduce GOST in the future?

— Firstly, this is the entire range of products related to functional nutrition, organic and "green" products. All these environmental names are a long family of standards that we must clearly apply.

We are developing a family in the country and are developing certification according to the ISO 9000-9001 family of standards. These are standards for the quality of management. We are sure that any organization in the country, regardless of the industry and field of activity, must pass this certification, just as you and I enter a polyclinic for a medical examination.

The certification that we carry out as part of such a large project as the Russian Expert applies to any industry and is applicable to any field. We will definitely develop this family.

— Is it possible to harmonize Russian and international standards? Is there any progress already on this issue?

— We are not alone in this world, and, of course, it is important for us that we do not create standards that work only within our country. The standards should also facilitate the dissemination of our technologies abroad, including in the sale of our goods and services abroad. Therefore, those agreements on the mutual recognition of our certificates related to "green" standards, organic and halal certificates, as well as certificates in other fields of activity, are a recognition that our standards are harmonized with international standards, and goods under them can be supplied to these countries without additional recheck. This makes it easier for our business to develop sales. And this, of course, develops our ability to export abroad the new technologies that we create.

"We will ensure that they improve. Or they left the market"

— When you conduct such a large number of inspections, how does the business react to negative results? Are they trying to fix the situation? Or are they trying to justify themselves in some way, or are they saying that the research was conducted incorrectly, and so on? How do they react?

— We are not a control and supervisory authority - we help. We note the shortcomings and talk about them openly, but we are ready to really help any manufacturer whose work has revealed these shortcomings, if he is ready to do it himself. If he is not ready to improve, then I believe that such manufacturers have no place in the market — they have no prospects for development. Because if you live from the position of "I'm always fine, I don't hear criticism," then you won't hear either the consumer or such a monitoring institute, an institute for quality development like Roskachestvo. Therefore, more than 90% of manufacturers and retail chains, literally in the first week after receiving information from us about their identified shortcomings, turn to us for assistance in developing a plan of corrective measures. They understand that in any case, we will identify them again, check them again, and ensure that they correct themselves. Or they left the market.

— How do modern technologies help to identify low-quality goods? Do they use artificial intelligence in Roskachestvo?

— Of course, we use neural networks, in our work it allows us to carry out the analysis that we previously carried out manually. For example, the analysis of the cards of marketplaces and online and offline retailers. Product information can now be analyzed using well-defined scenarios that, at least at the primary level, provide us with information about possible violations in certain products. And then we can go out with our own testing and research activities for this product and check whether the information we receive from artificial intelligence really corresponds to reality.

— Are there plans to create any new digital solutions in order to possibly inform consumers or verify manufacturers?

— Constant exchange of information with citizens is very important for us. We constantly, including together with you, urge Russian consumers to write to us more often and more actively on social networks, answer our questions, respond, share their fears, recommend certain product categories to us for verification or research. In this sense, the analysis of consumer behavior both in the channels of Roskachestvo and, of course, in the feedback systems of retail chains is the digital platform that will help us. Creating such a digital platform will allow us to aim more precisely, more attentively and better analyze product categories in which certain problems are really starting to arise.

When choosing the industries whose products we should explore during the year, we primarily focus on such risks. And in order to strengthen such a risk-based approach, we need to analyze a large amount of data coming to us primarily from Russian citizens — from consumers.

— As for consumer protection, are there any planned changes in legislation?

— Changes related to the operation of the platform economy are now coming into force. And these changes will seriously strengthen the requirements for marketplaces to disclose information, including communicating information about certificates and declarations of goods to consumers. I consider this set of data and changes to be adequate. It may be necessary to improve this law in the future, but only with a change in the market environment. Our consumers tell us the same thing, because about six million people a year come to our portal specifically with questions and for advice regarding consumer protection. And through active interaction with this audience, we understand exactly whether it is necessary to change or improve legislation in a particular area.

"The year 2025 has shown us a reduction in the average counterfeit market share to 5%"

— Has the situation with falsification of products changed in any way if we compare, for example, with the figures for the last year?

— Yes, the year 2025 and the beginning of 2026 showed us a reduction in the average share of counterfeit goods in the market to 5%. If not so long ago we were talking about figures of 12% and 10%, now the average figure is about 5%.

It is clear that there are product categories in which counterfeiting has been reduced to almost zero by the joint efforts of control and supervisory authorities, the state Commission for combating Illicit trafficking in products, and labeling systems. It can't be zero at all. There are product categories in which the problem is still present, for example, as we discussed with you, in light industry products, but on average this year, I can say, is quite a record year not only for our country, but also for many other developed countries. This 5% is a very good figure.

— But are we still moving towards a downward trend in this figure?

— No, no one should definitely rest on their laurels. Moreover, in different product categories, firstly, the situation is still not entirely favorable, and secondly, we definitely should not allow this or that product to worsen its performance.

We must work with manufacturers to continuously improve the quality of their own, independent processes. Because without the quality of processes, there will be neither the quality of goods, nor the quality of products, nor the quality of services.