The quality of products, goods and services is confirmed and guaranteed by an official document issued by an independent certification body. GOST R ISO 9001 (2008 edition) governs the basic terms and definitions of quality management systems. Products (it is divided into four categories: services, software, recyclable materials, hardware) should be understood as the result of the process. For many species, a combination of several elements of various product categories is characteristic. Requirements for products are established by regulatory documents (GOST, TU, Technical regulations, contract or supply contract, and others). The certificate is issued after identification and verification of products for compliance with the established quality requirements. These requirements are aimed at preserving the health and life of citizens, ensuring the safety of the environment, the safety of property, as well as other rules and regulations for use, storage and transportation. The validity period of the certificate of conformity is always established by the certification body.
According to the current regulatory and legislative documents, it is possible to confirm the conformity of product quality on a voluntary or mandatory basis. The latter applies to products that are intended for circulation on the territory of our state, and is carried out both in the form of certification and in the form of a declaration of conformity. Until February 16, 2010, the procedure was mandatory for products (goods and services) included in documents approved by the Government of our country. This is the Nomenclature of products, which is subject to certification, and the Nomenclature of products for which the declaration of conformity is allowed . Currently, in accordance with the Certification Rules of 08/05/1997 and the Law "On Technical Regulation", compliance must be confirmed only in cases provided for by the Technical Regulations and for compliance with this document. Objects that are not subject to mandatory certification relate to objects of voluntary certification. A certificate or declaration of conformity is issued during the mandatory certification. Declaration of conformity - as a result of voluntary certification. These documents are legally equivalent. An organization that manufactures products or provides services is required to suspend their release or provision in cases where the certificate has expired.
An organization that wants to obtain confirmation from an independent authority on product conformity for the first time or in cases where the certificate has expired must submit an application to the independent certification authority. After consideration of the application, a certification scheme is selected, and then, based on the results of the audit (based on expert opinions), a decision is made on the advisability of issuing a document or the refusal is justified. A document (certificate or declaration) is considered valid if it has a registration number assigned by a certification body. During the validity period of the document that confirms compliance, inspection (at least once a year) is carried out inspection, if this does not contradict the certification scheme. If serious inconsistencies are identified for product requirements (quality, safety, etc.), then the document may be suspended, which is notified to the manufacturer of the product, supplier of goods or services. Upon receipt of complaints from consumers, unscheduled inspections are carried out, according to the results of which the certificate or declaration can be suspended until the discrepancies are eliminated. In this case, as in those when the certificate has expired, it is required to confirm compliance again.
In accordance with the Certification Procedure established in our country, introduced from 09.21.1994, it is stipulated that the validity of the certificate cannot be more than 3 years. At the same time, the validity period of regulatory documents (GOST, TU, Technical regulations, codes, rules, etc.) for products, as well as the time limits of the period for which the certificate for the quality system, production or products (if this was provided) must be taken into account in the certification scheme). The manufacturer shall indicate information on product certification in the accompanying documents (date and number of the document establishing compliance). If the certificate has expired, then the products cannot be shipped to the consumer.