Describes the country's standards landscape, identifies the national standards and accreditation bodies, and lists the main national testing organization(s) and conformity assessment bodies.
Last Published: 2/12/2019

Overview

After Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), sanitary and phyto-sanitary standardization requirements have become more stringent in order to match Russian requirements. However, Armenian companies will had two years to comply with the technical regulations of the EAEU. Before the deadline, companies will still have to comply with the relevant national legislation. For most of the goods manufactured in the EAEU, which are subject to safety requirements, the two-year transitional period began on January 1, 2016, and for some products, such as furniture or wheeled vehicles, the new requirements will be mandatory beginning in 2019 and 2022 respectively. The Armenian Government recommends that exporters and importers begin using EAEU technical regulations as soon as possible. After the end of the transitional period all the goods circulating in the territory of the EAEU must meet the union’s mandatory requirements. Companies should consult with the  Armenian conformity assessment body for details. They can also seek advice from the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The National Institute of Standards (SARM) is a Closed Joint Stock Company operating under the Ministry of Economy and is the main standards organization in Armenia.  SARM maintains a list of standards of the Republic of Armenia which includes International (ISO), Interstate (GOST), Regional (EN), Armenian (HST) and other standards.  Currently, certificates of quality/safety issued or accepted by SARM are required for most food products, tobacco products, alcoholic drinks, and petroleum products.  Armenia has cooperation agreements in the field of standardization with Georgia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Russia, China, India, Slovakia and Iran.

Standards

As the main standards organization in Armenia, SARM is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) since 1997. It participates in technical standardization activities of 13 ISO technical committees and 17 subcommittees. It is a partner standardization body (PSB) of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) since 1 January 2007, affiliate member since 1 January 2008 and participates in standardization activities of several CEN technical committees.
As a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Armenia is required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO all proposed technical regulations that could affect trade with other Member countries. You can follow regulations that Armenia and other WTO Members notify through NotifyUS, which is a free, web-based e-mail subscription service that offers an opportunity to review and comment on proposed foreign technical regulations that can affect your access to international markets. Register online here (http://www.nist.gov/notifyus/).

Testing, inspection and certification

ARM has conformity assessment procedures in Armenian on its website. The creation of EAEU has given the EAEU’s supranational regulatory body, the Eurasian Commission, wide authority over unified macroeconomic, labor and social policies. It also ensures that technical regulations of all EAEU member countries are consistent. Information about new technical regulations can be found on the Eurasian Commission’s website.

In recent years there has been a substantial movement toward the adoption of common international wording and usage on product standards and certification procedures. In 2016, SARM adopted and registered 208 international and European standards in Armenia pertaining to energy, construction and environmental sectors as well as conformity assessment.   While there have been some improvements, some old Soviet GOST standards are still in use.

Due to Armenia’s membership in the EAEU, the process for obtaining certification documents will be changed. As a result, manufacturers may now obtain unified certificates and declarations of conformity for all member countries. The full set of documents, including the unified list of accredited bodies and laboratories that governs this process, is published on the EAEU website (http://www.eurasiancommission.org/en/). A unified list of products subject to certification of conformity and declarations of conformity is also available. Any product not listed on the EAEU website should follow the national standards for conformity of the destination country.
The Certificate of State Registration was established for all products requiring a sanitary certificate. Products which need a Certificate of State Registration are listed in part II of the “Unified list” approved by the Customs Union (Since 2015 EAEU) Commission on May 28, 2010, No. 299 (last edition No. 456 dated November, 11, 2010). The procedure for obtaining a Certificate of State Registration is also outlined on the website.

For a complete list of products (except pharmaceuticals) subject to certification and certification procedures, please see the Armenian Customs website or contact the Department for Quality Infrastructure of the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia. Companies need also to consult with Armenia’s conformity assessment body
and the State Service for Food Safety  for guidance on complying with the new EAEU requirements and exemptions for Armenia.
Imported vitamins and other pharmaceutical products are subject to certification by the Ministry of Health.  
SARM has been accredited as a certification body for products, services and quality management systems (ISO 9000), as well as a products certification body within the system of the Russian Federation.  It also carries out conformity assessment work in the above-mentioned fields and tests a large number of items. Test certificates from foreign laboratories are not always accepted. 

Publication of technical regulations

SARM publishes new technical regulations in Armenian, Russian and English. However before adoption they are posted on Minsitry of Justice’s Unified Website for Publication of Legal Acts’ Drafts (https://www.e-draft.am/en for public comments. After adoption the Ministry of Justice publishes them in their offical journals as well as electronic legal databse- www.laws.am.
 “Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S.
(www.nist.gov/notifyus) is a free, web-based e-mail registration service that captures and makes available for review and comment key information on draft regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Users receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are added by selected country(ies) and industry sector(s) of interest, and can also request full texts of regulations.  This service and its associated web site are managed and operated by the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.” 

Contact Information

Department of Quality Infrastructure (http://www.mineconomy.am/en/84)
Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia
M. Mkrtchyan 5
Yerevan, 375010
Tel: (374 -10) 56 69 25
Fax: (374-10) 52 65 77
Email: sarm@sarm.am

Economic and Commercial Section
U.S. Embassy, American Avenue 1, Yerevan 0082, Armenia
YerevanBusiness@state.gov

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.