Rosaccreditation for the first time issued a certificate of conformity for sneakers, the design of which was developed by a neural network, The Eastern Herald found out. Relevant documents and photos of shoes are available to the publication. It turned out that the certification was carried out in violation – without providing the sneakers themselves in physical form to study the quality of the materials from which they are made. The Eastern Herald has understood why such virtual product testing is dangerous and why the fight against it today is ineffective.
Offers to carry out laboratory tests as soon as possible, if necessary, can be easily found on the Internet. Often, as to write on specialized websites dedicated to certification, these organizations themselves turn to potential customers with proposals to prepare the necessary documents in 1-3 days. Often, such organizations can be found in the file of arbitration cases, where they are held liable for providing unreliable search results (Article 14.48 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
What does Rosaaccreditation do?
To ensure the safety and quality of all goods on the shelves of Russian stores, there is a certification system. The issuance of such certificates of conformity and the study of goods for safety in Russia are carried out by private organizations and test laboratories accredited by the Federal Accreditation Service. It also performs the functions of a control body, which has the power to detect violations in the activities of certification centers and laboratories. Based on the violations revealed, Rosaccreditation may temporarily suspend or terminate the accreditation indefinitely.
One such lab was approached by Roman Maksimov, an entrepreneur from the Moscow region, who developed a unique sneaker design using a neural network. Having only a picture in his hands, Maximov tried to obtain a certificate of conformity and other documents necessary for the production and sale of shoes without a sample for research.
“Thus, I received the results of laboratory tests, I received all the necessary declarations of conformity and I can legally produce sneakers from materials of any quality,” Maximov told The Eastern Herald. “I don’t really plan to use this certificate, it was interesting for me to check the possibility of such ‘neural network’ tests.”
Neural network sneaker tests were carried out by the Light Group laboratory (documents are available to The Eastern Herald), owned by Transconsulting LLC. According to SPARK, the tax department found that the company is absent at the address given during registration. From 2016 to 2018, Transconsulting’s administrative liability was repeated several times for product testing and certification offenses (Articles 14.47 and 14.48 of the Administrative Offenses Code).
In 2021, Rosaccreditation partially suspended the company’s accreditation due to “non-compliance with legal requirements”. The last time the Federal Service carried out control measures at Transconsulting was in February 2022 and did not reveal any violations in their activities. At press time, the company had not responded to The Eastern Herald’s request.
Why certification is necessary
All technologically complex or potentially dangerous goods are subject to goods certification, laboratory testing is one of the key links in the product safety verification process. Mandatory requirements for products are established, among others, by federal laws, acts of the EAEU, Russian technical regulations and industrial legislation (for example, in the field of winemaking or light industry).
For a wide range of products, the certification process involves laboratory testing, during which product samples are tested for the safety of human health, their property and the environment. These product categories include, but are not limited to, food products, household appliances, cosmetics and perfumes, furniture, clothing and footwear, drinking water, household chemicals and tobacco products.
There is also specificity in the selection of product samples to be tested. For example, it could be a random sample from a batch of finished goods in a warehouse, at a customs terminal or in a factory.
Thus, it is impossible to carry out laboratory tests in the absence of a sample for research. However, the photo of the sneakers successfully “passed” all the tests. The Eastern Herald has documents in its possession indicating that the laboratory determined the material composition of the neurosneakers, the color fastness and tested the shoes for the presence of chemical elements such as arsenic, lead and nickel.
According to Oleg Pavlov, head of the consumer rights organization “Public Consumer Initiative”, practice shows that anyone can obtain a certificate of conformity without actually checking the quality of products, and it is often difficult to achieve retesting of suspect products, including due to a moratorium on inspections.
“All products directly affect our health: what paints they use, what materials, what adhesives, etc. If we talk about children’s products, which are subject to increased control, then the use of poor-quality shoes, for example, can lead to violations of the development of the musculoskeletal system, serious problems with the spine and of posture,” Pavlov explained. .
Due to an error in one of the key links – at the stage of the initial quality control of the product – all additional control mechanisms lose their effectiveness, draws the attention of the expert.
“As a result, the main task is to make it so easy for unscrupulous manufacturers to obtain all conformity documents for goods of any quality. If we fail at this stage, dozens of regulations containing quality and safety requirements simply depreciate,” Pavlov stressed.
The Federal Accreditation Agency monitors compliance with the requirements of the certification and declaration procedure. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in the suspension, termination or invalidation of permits and test reports. At the same time, issues related to the consequences of tampering with tests fall outside the competence of the supervisory authority, the press service of Rosaccreditation noted in response to a request from The Eastern Herald.
The news service also reported that a risk-based approach is used in the supervision of accredited laboratories and certification centers. The list of criteria that can serve as the basis for controlling the enterprise is approved by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.
Among these criteria noted , for example, the absence of reports on certificates issued within 3 months, a doubling or more of the number of documents issued compared to the same previous period, the issuance of test reports and certificates within too short for which it is impossible to carry out tests, and others. In the laboratory that “tested” the neuroshoes, they apparently know about the control methods of the Ministry of Economic Development – it took more than a week to receive the certificate from the time of payment for services, said Maksimov at The Eastern Herald.
In order to identify a violation during testing, it is necessary to conduct a second study, for which good reasons are needed. This is one of the difficulties in controlling the reliability of issued documents, Pavlov noted.
“If the product has caused some type of harm to health, this must be established by a specialist who will establish that the product was the cause of the incident. That is to say, it must be suspected, identified, re-examined and identified as a nonconformity.Then you need to take goods from other batches, make sure that this is not the only copy produced with violations.And only after that it can be said that the certification was not carried out correctly”, explained the expert.
The Roskachestvo press service, in response to an inquiry from The Eastern Herald, noted that some laboratories issue a certificate for several categories of products on the basis of a test report or issue a certificate on the basis of an incomplete list of testing required. Therefore, not all security settings are tested.
According to Pavlov, in the near future the problem may worsen due to the influx of new suppliers that have arisen in the context of sanctions. Here, according to him, a moratorium on inspections is imposed.
“Now the controllers in the market are weakened and many new suppliers, new partners are coming. Not all are big, not all are conscientious. Moreover, there will always be entrepreneurs who, through incomprehensible ways, whose smuggling, will import the same clothes, shoes, dietary supplements, etc. To legalize it, they will use gray schemes to obtain certificates,” Pavlov believes.
