Procedure for Certification within the EAEU

Conformity assessment within the EAEU in the form of certification includes the following main stages:

Submission of an application for product certification by the applicant to CAB;
Determination of responsible persons for the application by the CAB head;
Conclusion of a service contract for certification;
Review and analysis of the application and accompanying documents, product identification concerning the applicability of TR CU;
Decision on the application and notification to the applicant;
Amendment or addition to the decision (if necessary);
Identification and sampling of product samples (if provided by the certification scheme or decision on the application);
Conducting research (tests) and measurements of product samples in an accredited testing laboratory (center) under a contract with CAB (except in cases where the testing laboratory (center) and CAB are combined);
Conducting product state analysis (PSA) for serial certification;
Summarizing and analyzing the documents provided by the applicant, research (test) and measurement results, and PSA results (if available);
Analysis and decision on issuing or refusing to issue a certificate of conformity;
Preparation and issuance of the certificate of conformity by CAB (in case of a positive decision);
Entering information about the issued certificate of conformity in the unified register of issued certificates of conformity and registered declarations of conformity;
Ensuring product marking by the applicant with a single circulation mark in the Union market as approved by the Commission;
Conducting periodic evaluation of certified products by CAB (for scheme 1c).

1. Application Submission for Certification

The basis for starting the work is the application. The application is submitted by the applicant to CAB along with a set of documents.

Form of Application for Certification

The application must be accompanied by the following documents:

a) For serially produced products:

A document containing information about the applicant's registration or account (individual, identification) number assigned during the state registration of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur under the legislation of the member states;
A copy of the document(s) based on which the product is manufactured (technical specifications and/or organizational standards (or a replacement document));
Copies of technical documentation (design, technological, and repair documentation (repair project documentation)), a set of operational documents (to the extent agreed with CAB);
A list of standards (with their designations and titles, as well as sections (clauses, subclauses), if compliance with TR CU requirements can be ensured by applying individual sections (clauses, subclauses) of these standards rather than the standards as a whole) included in the list of standards resulting from the application of which TR CU requirements are met (if used by the applicant);
Safety justification to confirm compliance if standards included in the list of standards resulting from the application of which TR CU requirements are met are not applied or partially applied;
A copy of the contract with the manufacturer (including foreign manufacturers) providing for ensuring compliance of imported products with TR CU requirements and liability for non-compliance (for authorized representatives);
Copies of research (test) and measurement protocols for the products (if available);
A document containing information on existing certificates of conformity and declarations of conformity for products, parts of which are subject to conformity assessment (indicating the registration number and date);
A copy of the protocol of acceptance (qualification) tests (submitted for initial certification);
A copy of the qualification commission act, and in the case of initial certification, also the acceptance commission act (if available);
A copy of the plan of measures to eliminate deficiencies identified by the acceptance (qualification) commission (if available) and documents confirming its implementation;
Information on complaints;
A proposal on the method and place of applying the single circulation mark in the Union market;
Other documents at the applicant's discretion (if available).

Documentation may be submitted as it is prepared and approved but must be completed before deciding on the possibility of issuing a certificate of conformity.

b) For a batch of products or a single item:

Information about the applicant's registration or account (individual, identification) number assigned during the state registration of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur under the legislation of the member states;
A copy of the contract (supply agreement) and accompanying documents identifying the single item or batch of products (including its size);
Copies of operational documents and repair documentation (repair project documentation);
A list of standards (with their designations and titles, as well as sections (clauses, subclauses), if compliance with TR CU requirements can be ensured by applying individual sections (clauses, subclauses) of these standards rather than the standards as a whole) included in the list of standards resulting from the application of which TR CU requirements are met (if used by the applicant);
Safety justification to confirm compliance if standards included in the list of standards resulting from the application of which TR CU requirements are met are not applied or partially applied;
Protocols of research (tests) and measurements of product samples (if available);
A document containing information on existing certificates of conformity and declarations of conformity for products, parts of which are subject to conformity assessment (indicating the registration number and date);
Other documents at the applicant's discretion (if available).

CAB may decide to replace product tests with the results of an expert examination of similar product samples tests, provided in certification test protocols no older than 5 years. The expert examination is conducted by CAB or another organization as decided by CAB.

2. Contract Arrangement

Certification is carried out based on a contract for certification services.

3. Sampling and Identification of Samples

The necessity for sampling and product identification is determined in the decision on the application.

During certification, the identification and sampling of products for certification tests are conducted.

4. Testing

The necessary tests and measurements of product parameters during certification are carried out by testing laboratories (centers) included in the Unified Register of Certification Bodies and Testing Laboratories (Centers) of the Customs Union.

Accredited testing laboratories (centers) issue research (test) and measurement results in the appropriate test protocols.

5. Production State Analysis (PSA)

PSA is conducted to establish the necessary conditions for the production of products with stable characteristics verified during certification.

PSA must be conducted no earlier than 12 months before issuing the certificate of conformity, if required by the certification scheme.

The basis for PSA is the positive decision of CAB on the application, specifying the certification scheme that requires PSA.

PSA is conducted based on the PSA program for:

a) Technological processes;

b) Technological and design documentation (including management thereof);

c) Technological equipment;

d) Technological regimes;

e) Management of technological equipment;

f) Management of metrological equipment;

g) Research (test) and measurement methods;

h) Raw material and component inspection procedures;

i) Production inspection procedures;

j) Management of non-conforming products;

k) Complaint handling procedures;

l) Personnel management;

m) Product normative documentation management.

The results of PSA are documented in a PSA report for the certified product.

6. Summarizing and Analysis of Submitted Documents and Results

The expert-auditor summarizes and analyzes:

Documents provided by the applicant and other evidentiary documents, if available;
Results of research (tests) and measurements of product samples;
PSA results (if required by the certification scheme), sampling acts, and product identification conclusions concerning compliance with TR CU requirements.

The expert-auditor issues a conclusion on compliance/non-compliance based on the summarization and analysis of these documents.

7. Decision on Issuing (or Refusing) a Certificate of Conformity

CAB prepares a decision on issuing (or refusing) a certificate of conformity after analyzing research (test) and measurement protocols, PSA results (if required by the certification scheme), and expert evaluation results of the document set provided by the applicant per TR CU.

Reasons for CAB to refuse issuing a certificate of conformity include:

a) Non-compliance of the product with TR CU requirements (including negative certification test results);

b) Negative PSA results (if required by the certification scheme);

c) Presence of false information in documents received during certification.

8. Certificate of Conformity Issuance

Based on a positive decision to issue a certificate of conformity, CAB issues the certificate of conformity in a unified form and rules approved by the Commission, registers it in the unified register of issued certificates of conformity and registered declarations of conformity, and provides it to the applicant.

9. Periodic Evaluation of Certified Products

CAB, which conducted the product certification, performs periodic evaluation of certified products, if required by the certification scheme. Periodic evaluation can be scheduled or unscheduled and ensures obtaining information on certified products in the form of research (test) and measurement results and PSA results (if decided by CAB) to confirm that the product continues to comply with TR CU requirements confirmed during certification.

CAB conducts periodic evaluation of certified products within the validity period of the certificate of conformity no more than once a year according to a schedule set by CAB.

Criteria for determining the frequency and scope of periodic evaluation of certified products include:

a) The potential danger of the product;

b) Results of product certification;

c) Stability of product production;

d) Production volume;

e) Availability of a certified management system.

The first periodic evaluation date is set in CAB's decision to issue a certificate of conformity.

Unscheduled periodic evaluation is conducted in the following cases:

a) If there is information (confirming documents) about claims regarding product safety.

Such information may be received from consumers and state control (supervision) bodies responsible for the safety of the products for which the certificate of conformity is issued. The scope of work during unscheduled periodic evaluation is determined by the need to check technological processes related to identified deficiencies in ensuring product safety.

b) If the manufacturer does not produce certified products for over one calendar year.

In this case, the release of products into the Customs Union territory is allowed only after an unscheduled periodic evaluation.

If periodic evaluation is conducted at the end of the current year and the test results and/or documents confirming the elimination of non-conformities are provided in the following year, this periodic evaluation is considered to have been conducted in the current year (at the time of evaluation).

Periodic evaluation results are documented in a periodic evaluation report of certified products.

Based on the periodic evaluation report results, a conclusion is made on the product's compliance with technical regulations, the stability of compliance, and the possibility of maintaining the issued certificate of conformity or suspending (terminating) the certificate of conformity. The report may also specify the next periodic evaluation date, the scope (certification indicators) of tests, and the number of samples for research (tests) and measurements for the next periodic evaluation of certified products.

Suspension and Termination of EAEU Certificate of Conformity

Based on periodic evaluation results, one of the following decisions may be made: a) The certificate of conformity remains valid if the product complies with TR CU requirements; b) The certificate of conformity is suspended if corrective actions can eliminate the identified causes of non-compliance with TR CU requirements; c) The certificate of conformity is terminated if corrective actions cannot eliminate the identified causes of non-compliance with TR CU requirements.

CAB may decide to suspend or terminate the certificate of conformity at the applicant's request.

The certificate of conformity is terminated from the date of the corresponding entry in the unified register of issued certificates of conformity and registered declarations of conformity.

Suspension or termination of the certificate of conformity is carried out in accordance with typical schemes.

Products for which the certificate of conformity has been terminated may be re-applied for certification after the applicant completes the necessary corrective actions.

Expansion and Reduction of Certification Scope

The product certification scope is expanded when the product range manufactured by the organization changes.

When expanding the range (assortment) of serially produced products, the certificate holder organization wishing to certify new models or assortment sends an application and documents confirming the expansion to CAB.

If the certificate holder applies to CAB to expand the conformity assessment scope due to a change in the product range, one of two documents may be issued for other products at the certificate holder's discretion:

A separate certificate of conformity only for the expanded conformity assessment scope;
A certificate of conformity considering both the previous and expanded conformity assessment scopes, while the previous certificate of conformity is canceled, and the certificate holder returns the canceled certificate of conformity to CAB.