The Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs announces the entry into force of amendments to the Rules for issuing an Industrial Certificate from February 20, 2020.

Atameken issues the Industrial Certificate since April 2019. Taking into account that this is a completely new tool, the Chamber has carried out a thorough analysis of the issuance, and the application of the Industrial Certificate for 9 months of 2019.

During this period, the feedback was provided from all participants in the process: from entrepreneurs and industry associations to government agencies. Having collected the opinions of the parties, the Chamber prepared a package of amendments to the Rules, which were repeatedly submitted for discussion with business and involved government agencies.  

The new rules will make the process of obtaining an industrial certificate more accessible, transparent and efficient. In addition, the amendments will solve problematic issues faced by businesses applying for the industrial certificate.  

 For example, the old Rules did not regulate the number of industry experts, which led to delays in obtaining certificates in certain regions. The new version removes this restriction by introducing a paragraph on the mandatory provision of at least one sector expert in each region, cities of national importance and the capital where the existing enterprises of the sector are located.

Also, the amendments allowed regulating the interaction of branch associations, experts and applicants. The rules approve tripartite model agreements, which allow creating a transparent process of relations between the participants in the issuance of the industrial certificate and protecting enterprises in terms of non-disclosure of information received by the experts.

An important change in the Rules was the exclusion of the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works and services from the Industrial Certificate. It should be noted that an Industrial Certificate is a document confirming the availability of equipment, facilities necessary for the production of a group of goods (for example, furniture, cable products, etc.).

In its turn, the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works, and services is a classifier of goods, works, and services, in which each code describes the technical characteristics (brand, material, dimensions, etc.) of a particular product.

Besides, the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works and services is not a state or international classifier (the owner of the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works and services is Samruk-Kazyna Contract LLP), the methodology of maintaining and updating the data of the  Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works and services is closed.

The specified factors, as well as regular introduction of changes in the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works and services and inclusion of new codes, narrowed the access to public procurement of domestic entrepreneurs. Besides, the constant introduction of changes in the industrial certificate was required, which is an additional financial and time burden on business.

Now the requirement on the indication of codes of the Unified nomenclature directory of goods, works, and services has been excluded and it will allow removing artificial restrictions for participation in the procurement of the domestic manufacturers.  

In January Atameken hosted an extended meeting with the participation of disabled organizations from all regions of Kazakhstan. Remind that the industrial certificate is also issued to manufacturing organizations for the disabled persons. As a result of the joint discussion, it became possible to serve disabled organizations out of turn while considering the application for inclusion in the register of the domestic manufacturers and analysis of the state of production.

At the suggestion of industry associations, the Rules were amended with regard to the development of industry criteria for more effective analysis of the state of production. As of today, sectoral criteria in IT, furniture and light industry have already been developed and sent for approval to the authorized state body.

With regard to other industries, the Rules contain provisions allowing the development and approval of industry criteria for their subsequent application in the analysis of production. This measure will make it possible to create a uniform approach to the industry analysis and eliminate complaints from the domestic manufacturers on overstated requirements when analyzing the production.

Also, in accordance with the amendments introduced, it is excluded the requirement for applicants to provide documents and information if they are not related to the production of goods. For example, the necessity to provide Quality Management System certificates, participation in exhibitions and fairs, and others are excluded. At the same time, the new version of the Rules clearly spells out the requirements for the package of documents that applicants submit when obtaining a certificate.   

The Rules that came into force contain provisions allowing monitoring and desk audit of the process of issuing an Industrial Certificate by analogy with the issuance of CT-KZ, which will allow timely identification of violations of the issued certificates.

The new Atameken Rules empower Atameken to create an electronic certification system. Currently, the Chamber is carrying out full automation of the entire business process of issuing an industrial certificate with the inclusion of all participants in the system. Through digitalization, a systematic approach, transparency of the entire process and acceleration of the issuance of the Industrial Certificate will be created. 

In general, it should be noted that the adopted changes are aimed at creating equal conditions and fair competition among domestic producers. In addition, the new Rules made it possible to exclude the possibility of applying anti-competitive measures when issuing an industrial certificate.

If you have any other questions when obtaining an Industrial Certificate, please contact  8/7172/ 919-359 (Department of Certification and Commodity Origin).