Kazakhstan Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in kazakhstan, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Standards for Trade
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Overview

Certification and/or conformity assessment procedures are part of the national system of technical regulation.  To bring Kazakhstan standards more in line with international standards, in 2007 Kazakhstan adopted several 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 73,000 rules and norms, including 35,347 representing international standards (International Organization for Standardization, European Standards, International Electrotechnical Commission, etc.) and 2,246 U.S. standards (American National Standards Institute).  These standards are applied across all economic sectors.

Under 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relating to quality of goods will be given a voluntary status, and manufacturers will no longer be forced to follow outdated requirements dictating a shape, or color of goods as it was under previous legislation.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 Trade and Integration, is the national agency administrating technical regulation issues in Kazakhstan.  Gosstandart is subdivided into two subordinate enterprises:  the Kazakh Institute of Standardization and Metrology, and National Center of Accreditation (http://www.en.test.nca.kz/).

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.  Conformity Assessment is based on rules and procedures as established by the EAEU (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.

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 or countries 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.

Use ePing to Review Proposed Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures 

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by WTO Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts.  Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest. 

Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life.  Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point.   National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information.

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by WTO Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts.  Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest. 

Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life.  Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point.   National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

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