Standard approach: business warned about a possible revision of product prices
Manufacturers have warned about the risk of rising prices for products, including socially important goods. In their opinion, the reason for this may be a bill that will oblige food producers to comply with GOST standards — the State Duma is preparing this document for the second reading. Currently, domestic companies produce products according to technical specifications and their own standards. The business fears that the new rules will lead to an increase in costs for correcting the composition, reissuing permits and packaging. At the same time, the authors of the bill are confident that after its adoption, only low-quality products will disappear from the market. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also supported the initiative, since, according to the agency, it is aimed at protecting consumers.
Why are manufacturers afraid of rising prices
Food companies have responded to the amendments proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the law on standardization — business claims risks, among which there is a possible increase in food prices, including socially significant ones. The agency is confident that the properties of products that companies record in internal standards and technical specifications should not be lower than those already established in voluntary GOST standards. In fact, such conditions make standards mandatory in the Russian Federation.
This norm can lead to certain consequences, according to food industry experts. For example, in retail, there may be a significant reduction in the range of products and their price increase. Therefore, the companies are asked not to take into account such an amendment to the law — they have already applied to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry so that the head of the organization, Sergei Katyrin, sent a letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. This is stated in a letter from leading manufacturers from the Soyuzmoloko, Rusbrand, Rusprodsoyuz, Rybny Soyuz, Ascond associations, the National Meat Association and the National Bakery Union. Izvestia has reviewed the document.
Business believes that the reason for such consequences is that GOST standards will become, in fact, mandatory. Currently, the legislation allows food manufacturers to produce products according to the organization's internal standards (SRT) and technical specifications (TU), according to a letter addressed to Sergey Katyrin. However, the goods must comply with the safety requirements specified in the technical regulations.
However, for various reasons, goods may now not meet the standards of national standards, among them the rapid obsolescence of such GOST standards. For example, Soyuzmolok estimates that up to 40% of dairy products on the market are produced by SRT or TU.
A new commitment may prompt a business to adjust its work to meet the rules. "In conditions of sufficiently high inflation, this can lead to an increase in prices for all food products, including socially significant ones," the letter says. Up to 10% of the names of goods in the dairy industry alone may disappear from the market, the document emphasizes.
As Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Izvestia, the organization received an appeal from industry associations regarding the possible consequences of the mandatory dissemination of GOST standards for the entire range of food products.
— The question was sent to the relevant committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was instructed to analyze the arguments of the business in a short time and prepare a consolidated conclusion, — he added.
Only low-quality products can disappear from the market.
Initially, amendments to the law on standardization were proposed by United Russia deputy, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Nadezhda Shkolkina. She and a group of parliamentarians submitted the document to the lower house of parliament at the end of December 2023. Then the government supported him with some minor comments. Already in March 2024, the document was approved in the first reading.
The deputy is sure that food companies should send their documents to the service station for examination. Then they are registered with the Federal Information Standards Fund. This is important, because now food manufacturers treat GOST standards and their own technical specifications and service stations differently, Nadezhda Shkolkina believes.
In the first case, when companies create products according to the standard, they usually comply with the requirements of GOST standards, it is noted in the explanatory note to the draft law. But if the manufacturer uses its own developments, that is, SRT or TU, then the situation is different — manufacturers deviate from these standards. So, according to expert estimates, the share of products that do not comply with technical specifications and service stations is approaching 60-80%. For example, for fish it is 60%, for milk it is 50%, the document says. Later, the Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to tighten this bill, obliging food producers to produce products whose composition cannot be worse than the GOST standards.
As Nadezhda Shkolkina told Izvestia, "no one is talking about the abolition of ONE or the mandatory application of GOST standards, the decision to produce products according to ONE or according to GOST remains with the manufacturer himself."
"But the fact that today the industry recognizes that it itself does not fulfill the requirements it forms, suggests whether manufacturers really always want to produce high—quality and safe products, which they inform their consumers about," she said. — Why, when it comes to product quality, we are always being intimidated by price increases or other risks. If the risk is that some of the low—quality and counterfeit products will leave the market, then this is also a good thing and, by and large, is the purpose of drafting the bill," the deputy stressed.
The additional financial burden on food companies will also put pressure on the development of events. After all, all internal standards and specifications will have to be reviewed, which will become mandatory if the law is passed. As a result, manufacturers will also have to redo declarations of conformity of their products to mandatory requirements, certificates of state registration and certificates of conformity for products already on sale. This will result in high costs for all industries, according to manufacturers.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the bill because it is aimed at improving product quality, consumer confidence and protection, as well as ensuring the complexity and consistency of standardization documents, the ministry told Izvestia.
— The regulation on the consistency of SRT/TU creates conditions for the systematic establishment of requirements in various types of standardization documents, — they noted.
The letter from the associations has not been received by the Ministry of Agriculture, the department said. At the same time, they are confident that the appeal of the largest industry associations will be carefully reviewed and analyzed by CCI experts. The Ministry is also ready to participate in the consideration of this appeal, they noted.
The Consumer Union of the Russian Federation has been advocating for the SRT and TU to become public documents for years, so that, for example, when examining product samples during public control, it could be checked whether products comply with these standards, chairman of the union Alexey Koitov told Izvestia.
— Now there is no such possibility, we have to check the goods only for compliance with mandatory requirements, which are far from being established for all products. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that about 80% of the products produced are manufactured using SRT or TU, which most manufacturers publicly declare," he noted.
Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative, agrees with him: the innovations deserve a positive assessment.
— The essence of the bill is that if a manufacturer publicly (for example, on a package) declares the conformity of a product with a service station or a technical specification, then they must be publicly available and registered with the Federal Information Standards Fund, which means they must first undergo an examination for compliance, including with national and interstate GOST standards, — he explained.
Currently, the registration and examination of service stations and technical specifications are voluntary, even if they are stated on the packaging, the expert emphasized. As a result, the consumer market is filled with goods with the designation of certain service stations, the contents of which are unknown, he concluded. In order for the manufacturer to avoid costs, it is enough not to declare on the packaging that the goods supposedly correspond to them, and simply produce products in accordance with the mandatory requirements of technical regulations.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
