Sanitary Control - continued

If you are importing something like cosmetics or foods to Russia, expect sanitary control issues.

We are abnormal people. We have like 350 positions in the invoice, which have 24 certificates, issued for groups of products.

The first reaction of the sanitary control people at the airport was "We can't check your invoice, way too big. Go to the central office (20 km into the city through heavy traffic)". I moaned, I ripped my hair and beat my head against the wall. They agreed and checked the invoice in 4 hours.

Next time I came, I had the boss of the department telling me, my cargo was too complex for the territorial office to check. I asked: "Cam I help?" The answer was, "Take the invoice and write the certificate number with a pencil for every position. Err, like put numbers like 1,2,3 on the certificates and err, put those numbers on the invoice".

I made a reference table, binding certificate numbers to item ref. numbers (excel rules). Printed the thing - this became a 30+ page document, but they agreed to work with it.

Now, we have an agreement: I will give them an offiicial invoice translation + a paper, with the invoice sorted by certificate number (the same as before). They say, it is going to take them an hour or so with such a table.

Looks like a guideline to fight bureaucracy.

Russia & Ex-Soviet countries: Gas, Love & Rock'n'Roll

Business, economic and political relations with the former members of the Soviet Union have never been easy for Russia.

Politically, any Russian government had a mixed attitude to them. Mostly, affections for Ukraine and Belarus, culture-wise, the closest relations of Russia. Negative feelings (politically) for the Baltic States, Still, the most controversial region is the Caucasus.
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan are now independent. Still, large and powerful ethnic groups from these countries still live in Moscow and other major cities. With the current rise of "nationalistic sense", unhealthy debates became frequent.

Needless to say, gas and oil supplies have been an important political instrument since the very collapse of the Soviet Union.

Early in the 1990's nearly all the ex-soviet republics got supplies of energy resources from Russia at greatly reduced prices. This was pushed by political will of the Kremlin and popular attitudes. Plus, CIS inherited the spider-web of soviet communication (transport, pipelines, electric lines etc) which traditionally ran from the center of Russia to her borders.

Still, the links in hearts and minds have been much more important...

Legislation & regulation rules for Russia

The ultimate truth is: If your business has just finished a 6-month costly process of adjusting to the new legislation  requirements, it is about time for some new staff to emerge, which would require about the same amount of time & money.

Applies to: Rostehnadzor, Rospotrebnadzor

Government institutions: Surprises & Failures

Russia has a wide range of government institutions, which affect the life of businesses directly or indirectly.
A range of institutions are responsible for issuing certificates of various kinds, others may issue general regulations, which can influence companies, adding or, rarely, removing extra costs, etc.

Today I will list the institutions, which issue certificates for various fields of businesses. I will add links to the institution's official websites as well as links to useful resources a bit later.

1. Rostehnadzor - The Russian  Agency, which issues technical requirements and controls them. Directly influences the work of:
- Construction companies
- Real estate management companies
- Engineering companies & institutions, using industrial machinery

I will describe the types of papers, approvals etc, issued by this agency in the future posts and update this one.

2. Rospotrebnadzor - The Russian Agency, which controls the execution of consumers' rights in every aspect. The most frequently contacted by businesses.

Field of responsibility:
- Food industry (raw foods to retail \ catering)
- Hygienic goods: Soaps, shampoos, cosmetics etc
- B 2 P services, especially, ones, related to children
- Transport

Can act directly by issuing papers, like the new State Registration Papers of the Customs Union (more in future posts) or indirectly, by lobbying legislation. Has been involved in creating import bans for products from several countries & more.

3. Minzdravsocrazvitiya - The Ministry of Health and Social development. Issues certificates for all the pharmaceutics & issues approvals for medical institutions, children's institutions.

4. FSB (ex-KGB) issues certificates for transmitting\recieving devices, e.g. mobile phones, wi-fi hardware etc. Has other fields of interest, which I will discuss in future posts.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Welcoming note

Hello everyone!

My name is Alex. I live and work in St. Petersburg, Russia. I semi-run a business, importing and distributing professional cosmetics.

Semi-run? Well, I am 23 now, with a BA in sociology and an unfinished MA in international business. It is only now that I have the experience, the energy and the will to take over and start managing in stead of working.

Here I will be sharing my work progress and experiences. I am always open to discussion!

Regards,

Alex