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: 7/1/2019

Overview

Certification and/or conformity assessment procedures are part of the national system of technical regulation.  In November 2015, Kazakhstan joined the WTO. To bring Kazakhstan standards more in line with international standards, in 2007 Kazakhstan adopted a number of laws and amendments to the existing Law on Technical Regulations including such laws as Safety of Chemical Products, Safety of Food Products, Safety of Toys, and Safety of Equipment and Machinery.  The national file of standards now includes 71,500 rules and norms, including 16,081 representing international standards (International Organization for Standardization) and 2,246 95 American national standards (American National Standards Institute).  These standards are applied in all economic sectors.

Under the current regulations, safety standards acquire the status of normative documents, mandatory for consideration, while quality standards will gradually become voluntary.  The functions of governmental bodies will be limited to dealing with safety control issues.  Technical regulations will acquire the status of laws and will be intended to ensure the safety of life and health of consumers.  Other standards relating to quality of goods will be given a voluntary status, and manufacturers will no longer be forced to follow outdated requirements dictating a shape, or color of goods as it was under previous legislation.
 

Standards

The Committee on Technical Regulation and Metrology (Gosstandart)  under the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, is the national agency administrating technical regulation issues in Kazakhstan.  Gosstandart is subdivided into three subordinate enterprises: the Kazakh Institute for Standardization and Certification, the Kazakh Institute of Metrology, and National Center of Accreditation.

 

Testing, Inspection and Certification

The existing procedure of conformity assessment applied in Kazakhstan does not allow for 100% application of international standards due to legal and technical inconsistencies.  Kazakhstan entered the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) in 2010 and joined the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) in 2013.

The Conformity Assessment is based on the legislature of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

Any goods imported into Kazakhstan and included on the mandatory list of goods are subject to the mandatory procedure of certification under national requirements.  The list includes machines, cars, agricultural and telecommunication equipment, electro-technical equipment, construction materials and equipment, fuel, clothes, toys, food, medical and veterinary equipment, as well as drugs.  Contracts for goods delivery should be accompanied by the following documents: product description, country of origin certificate, name of producer, customs declaration, expiration date, storage requirements, and user manuals printed in Kazakh and Russian.  Foreign certificates, testing protocols, and compliance indicators of imported products should correspond to appropriate international treaties.

In Kazakhstan, as well as in other CIS countries, mandatory requirements for goods are set out in standards and legal documents regulating sanitary, environmental, veterinary and other issues, thus requiring further harmonization efforts.

The existing system of conformity assessment represents an onerous set of procedures that includes, among others: state control over conformity with mandatory standard requirements, mandatory certification and examination, and registration.

 

Publication of Technical Regulations

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. 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. 

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