Code in the bag: Honest Sign stamps can be purchased at Gardener
The "Honest Mark" marking code for any non-original or dangerous product can be purchased in Moscow for a maximum of 15 rubles, Izvestia found out. The authorities propose to combat such products within the system by additional checks of the permits of manufacturers of shoes, perfumes, tires and water. We are talking about certificates and declarations for goods that confirm their compliance with mandatory standards. Why the new measure will not help to clear the market of such products is in the Izvestia article.
How and for how much can I buy labeling codes without an "Honest Mark"
Honest Mark labeling system codes can be purchased for illegal goods, including fakes. For example, stamps for perfumes that were included in the system back in 2019 can now be purchased on some online platforms and on Gardener, according to which products of unknown origin continue to be traded on the market, Alexandra Skorobogatova, executive director of the Russian Perfumery and Cosmetics Association, told Izvestia. It turned out that it was easy to confirm this in practice, which is what Izvestia did.
The editorial staff contacted several online companies that allegedly offer outsourcing services — in fact, they register entrepreneurs for a fee in the Honest Sign system. In one of them, the labeling code cost from 3 to 15 rubles, depending on the batch size. To get into the system, you need to have an electronic digital signature, be registered as an individual entrepreneur and have permits — a certificate or declaration. If the products do not have documents, it is impossible to register with Honest Sign, the editors emphasized in another similar company, Axiom, which also provides so—called outsourcing services.
However, if an entrepreneur does not have such papers, but still has a desire to sell his products on marketplaces or in stores, then it is not difficult to make documents, Axiom added. So, her consultant offered to issue a declaration in an accredited laboratory for 13.5 thousand rubles, a document, for example, for sneakers will be valid for five years, Izvestia learned. However, it will be valid for one shoe manufacturer, its quality, safety and originality do not matter.
The labeling system was introduced on a mandatory basis in 2016, when codes for fur products began to be issued. Currently, a large range of goods is being identified in the Russian Federation: beer, dairy products, packaged water, canned food, bicycles, cameras — more than 20 categories in total. The curator of the system, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, created it as a mechanism that allows you to control the movement of products from the manufacturer to the consumer. It was assumed that this would clear the market of illegal products from which entrepreneurs do not pay taxes, as well as reduce the number of counterfeit goods, that is, fakes.
— The labeling system is an important tool for combating illegal trafficking in goods. The purpose of this work is to protect the rights of citizens and bona fide market participants. Digital control capabilities are gradually expanding and improving," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko's office told Izvestia.
Registration in the system is free, later it got the name "Honest Sign", and one digital code for a unit of production costs 50 kopecks, the CRPT clarified. The experience of introducing labeling has confirmed its effectiveness in combating illegal trafficking: in the shoe industry, the share of the legal market increased by 18%, while counterfeit sales decreased by 71%. In the light industry, the volume of counterfeit sales decreased by 36%, in perfumery — by 43%, Revaz Yusupov, vice president of the CRPT, told Izvestia.
These data are based on the fact that the Federal Tax Service has recorded a larger flow of tax deductions in these industries. In the case of counterfeiting, we are talking about the assessment of the Higher School of Economics: it compares production and import data with sales volumes. Although, for example, according to the Russian Union of Tanners and Shoe Manufacturers, the volume of counterfeit goods today is 120 million pairs with a market capacity of 580 million pairs.
"The labeling of shoes, introduced in 2020, according to the industry community, has not yet solved the problem of illicit trafficking," the union is confident. This is stated in his February letter to Roskachestvo.
Market participants have repeatedly doubted that the labeling system would be invulnerable, companies assumed that entrepreneurs would find a way to circumvent its rules and sell any products. In order to improve the system, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko instructed the departments to work on "eliminating cases of illegal trade in labeling codes," the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other ministries are already working in this direction.
How do the authorities propose to solve the problem
In parallel with the work on this assignment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared amendments to the rules for labeling shoes, perfumes, tires and packaged water, which will take effect on September 1, 2025. The main goal of the regulator is to tighten control over the licensing documentation in the Honest Sign system. We are talking about certificates, declarations of compliance with mandatory requirements, or certificates of state registration.
It is not easy to officially obtain such papers: it is necessary to send the products to the laboratory for testing, so that its specialists confirm that the goods really comply with the technical regulations on safety and other mandatory documents, the Rusbrand manufacturers' association explained to Izvestia. They added that without these documents, sales of goods in Russia are impossible, otherwise we will be talking about illegal products with questionable quality, which may also turn out to be fake. Therefore, such papers are called permissive.
Currently, when registering products with Honest Sign, businesses submit such documents. However, they are not analyzed in any way. While the new rules will solve this problem: the operator of the labeling system, the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT), will confirm from September, for example, in Rosreestr, whether the validity period of the permits has expired, whether the regulator has withdrawn the documents for violations. If the CRPT finds that the documents have lost their relevance, the products will be excluded from the labeling system, follows from the draft amendments of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
"When putting products into circulation, entrepreneurs must provide information about permits — this mechanism is planned to be finalized in terms of introducing additional digital control tools and unambiguously linking such documentation to specific units of products," the ministry confirmed to Izvestia.
The agency added that the new approach will allow excluding those participants in the labeling system who are now replacing documents — for example, using papers for a similar product, as well as submitting invalid or cancelled certificates and declarations to the Honest Mark and eventually selling a much larger volume of shipments than the permits granted to them allow.
As Revaz Yusupov, vice president of the CRPT, told Izvestia, in practice it will look like this: before putting into circulation, the center will check the status of the permit document and verify information about the product: perhaps the papers were withdrawn or released for other products. In case of non-conformity, it will be impossible to sell the product with the label. In the future, these measures are planned to be scaled up to all categories where labeling is mandatory. All this will prevent violations, which will lead to an even greater reduction in illegal trafficking, he added.
The new regulation will increase the effectiveness of existing controls due to the advantages that digital labeling provides, including through integration with government systems, the Tire Manufacturers Association told Izvestia. This automates the process of checking the availability of a permit and its status at the stage of commissioning. If the control body invalidates the issued product certificate for objective reasons, this will make it possible to more quickly stop the turnover of dangerous products, they noted.
The Union of Juice, Water and Beverage Producers (Soyuznapitki) and the Russian Union of Leather and Shoe Manufacturers did not provide comments.
But even if the issue of such problems as the illegal market for issuing permits and buying labeling codes is resolved, fakes will still continue to arrive at Honest Sign, Rusbrand believes. The thing is that the system does not control the originality of the goods in any way, the association clarified. After all, its operator does not require companies and sole proprietors to provide proof that the trademark holder or his official representative intends to label the product, they added. This means that anyone who imports or manufactures products using a foreign brand can do this, the association added.
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