EEC Approves Temporary Measures for EAC Certification of Serial Produced Goods During COVID-19
On December 18, 2020, the Order of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) No. 186 dated December 15, 2020 was officially published and became effective. This Order approves draft amendments to the standard conformity assessment schemes.
Due to a current epidemiological situation connected with COVID-19 pandemic, it was proposed to introduce temporary measures for certificates issued for serial production.
One of the temporary measures for certification of serial produced commodities is the possibility to use previously carried out inspections (production site report, inspection control) to the certified goods. The following conditions must be met:
- No violation of mandatory safety requirements was revealed earlier;
- New certification of products is carried out by the same certification body as before;
- New certification is carried out before the expiration of 2 years from the date of the previous production site (audit) report / inspection control;
- New products do not differ from the earlier certified product in terms of safety.
If it is not possible to conduct a real production site audit at the place of manufacture of products, a remote audit using video and audio communication as well as a documentary assessment of the manufacturer's quality management system take place. At the same time, a geolocation of the place of manufacturing activity is indicated in order to identify it, including for its compliance with the information specified in the manufacturer's documents.
Annual inspection control during the COVID-19 pandemic will be carried out by testing product samples. This procedure can be postponed for up to 6 months if the manufacturer provides the certification body with a letter on the invariability of the technological process of production of certified goods and their technical documentation.
If it is not possible to fully assess the safety of serial produced commodities, certification schemes are applied for a batch / single item, and corresponding certificates are issued specifically for the batch / single item.
These temporary measures will be effective for 12 months from the date of entry into force of the decision of the EEC Council. State control bodies will have to form and submit to the EEC a quarterly report on the certificates issued during these interim measures.