Russia updates cosmetics regulations

Russia has scrapped its Sanitary Government Registration (SGR) as part of an overhaul of the regulations surrounding cosmetic imports; the registration used to confirm that imported products conformed to the sanitary requirements of the Single Customs Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan).

A Declaration of Conformity to Technical Regulations (DOC TR) – which places responsibility for safety and quality solely with the manufacturer – will have to be issued to every Russian registered company or distributor. But on a positive note, certification specialist RusTest International said that DOC TRs will be issued for a period equivalent to a products’ use by date, not per invoice or shipment.

In addition to the old documentation and samples requirements, a General Production Quality Control Flowchart, indicating the stages at which quality control takes place is required.

According to RusTest, perfumes and cosmetics which conform to the updated technical regulations and which have undergone conformity assessment to these regulations under Article 6 must be marked with the united symbol of market states (members of the CU). Moreover this marking must be done prior to the release of products onto the market and applied to each unit destined for sale in CU states. Everything issued prior to 1 July 2012 will not require new marking.