Confirmation of conformity is a document confirming the compliance of certain products or processes and objects of production, storage, operation, utilization and sale, provision of services or performance of work with the provisions of standards, requirements of technical regulations, terms of contracts.
A document confirming the conformity of the quality of a product or service is one of the existing forms of conformity assessment, which imply the indirect or direct establishment of conformity to the requirements that apply to a specific object. Another form of conformity assessment is state supervision. The purpose and meaning of these conformity assessment forms is to determine the conformity of an object to existing requirements. But the methods and ways of carrying out the assessment differ for different forms of conformity assessment, and the bodies carrying out the assessment and the assessed objects differ.
The conformity confirmation procedure has specific goals.
1. Tightening the competitiveness of products, services and works in the domestic and foreign markets.
2. Assistance to buyers in the correct choice of services, goods, works.
3. Preparation of conditions for the free movement of goods across the Russian Federation, for international scientific, technical, economic cooperation and trade at the international level.
These goals are common for all objects of technical regulation, they are aimed at giving consumers of services and goods confidence in the compliance of their characteristics with the existing requirements of documents specified by sellers, manufacturers and performers.
The concept of conformity assessment first appeared in the Russian Federation, and before that in the Soviet Union in the 70s (it was called certification). In the Russian Federation, since the beginning of the 90s, a technical and regulatory framework has been formed in this area of activity, based on the laws “On certification of services and products” and “On protection of consumer rights”. The rules for confirming compliance established by the law "On technical regulation" are largely based on the norms that were developed earlier in accordance with the above laws.
Within the Russian Federation, confirmation of conformity can be both voluntary and mandatory.
Voluntary confirmation of conformity exists only in one form - this is voluntary certification.
Certification is a form of confirmation of the compliance of specific objects with the requirements of technical regulations, terms of contracts or provisions of standards.
Translated from Latin, "certification" means "done right." To be sure that the product is made correctly, you need to know exactly what requirements it must meet, as well as how to prove this compliance. Mandatory confirmation of conformity is issued in two versions: mandatory certification and acceptance of a declaration of conformity.
