Starting from 2019, certain consumer goods sold in Russia must be marked with special identification marks containing individual information about the goods. The government has adopted the model rules for the marking system (Governmental Order No. 791-r dated 28 April 2018 entering into force immediately) and intends to adopt detailed rules in the very near future.

The Governmental Order No. 792-r dated 28 April 2018 entering into force from 1 January 2019 defines a list of goods which will be subject to this special marking:

  • From 1 March 2019: tobacco products,
  • From 1 July 2019: shoes,
  • From 1 December 2019: perfume, tyres, leather clothing, shirts and blouses for women and girls, coats and outdoor jackets, bed linen and tablecloths, cameras (except video cameras) and camera flashes.

All goods marked with the identification marks will be integrated into a unified catalogue of the goods which will be available to authorities and business-community. The manufacturers and the importers will receive the marking hardware and software free of charge, but will have to pay for the generation of the unique code of each mark. The marks will be able to trace the goods starting from their manufacturing or import into the Russian Federation.

The identification marks and the marking system will be managed by an authorised legal entity. This entity is not determined yet, but likely this will be the Centre of Development of the Perspective Technologies which has already managed the marking of the fur clothes.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry will be responsible for implementing and regulating the marking system. According to the Minister Denis Manturov the marking system is aimed to prevent sale of counterfeit products and will not lead to significant costs increase for the industry and retail. The software for scanning the identification marks should be integrated into the existing electronic cash-machines. It is also planned to issue some free of charge apps for the consumers which will be able to read the identification marks.

However, the business community raises concerns that new marking system will most certainly lead to extra costs for the manufacturers, importers and retailers and to an increase in the retail prices. We will keep you updated on further developments in this area.

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