REUTERS
Ukraine's Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has issued a decree abolishing nearly 13,000 state GOST standards, which were developed before 1992, and most of which will become invalid in early 2018, according to the ministry's press service.
"It is one of the key steps in the reform of the technical regulation system, which eliminates unnecessary restrictions for businesses in the development of products and services, as well as promotes entrepreneurial initiative and competition," a statement posted on the ministry's website reads.
The two-year postponement is necessary to enable businesses to get adapted to new conditions, according to the statement.
"De jure the GOST standards were optional. But the texts of those standards and numerous regulatory acts suggested an imperative for their use. Therefore, many companies de facto continued using the state standards on a mandatory basis. From now on, the elimination of this obligation has been clearly and unambiguously approved," the press service quoted Deputy Economic Minister Maksym Nefyodov as saying. According to him, the reform aims to enable a shift from the sophisticated and inefficient system of mandatory state standards to the European model of technical regulation, based on the application of technical regulations and voluntary use of standards.
As reported, the technical regulations provide for all the necessary requirements for product safety. However, unlike the outdated state standards, these regulations do not make any specific demands regarding the design of products and other issues.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in December 2014, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated Ukraine was planning to completely abandon the Soviet system of standardization by 2016 and start applying the European standards.
On January 15, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on bringing the Ukrainian laws in line with the EU standards in terms of technical regulations and conformity assessment.
In October 2015, the Economic Ministry's research and engineering council decided to launch preparations for scrapping Soviet-era technical standards in Ukraine from January 1, 2016, proposing the introduction of a transition period. According to the decision, the standardization and certification centers will analyze the Soviet-era technical regulations that are effective in Ukraine, and will propose a transition period that will enter into force from January 1, 2016.