An online conference on "COVID19: international certification during quarantine restrictions" was held on April 30. A promising market potential for Russian products".
Opening the event, Mr. Suren Vardanyan, the MCCI’ Vice President, noted that in the current situation, a special role is assigned to measures for obtaining relevant information that helps businesses to navigate in rapidly changing conditions.
Mr. Dmitry Yudakov, an expert of the Center for Standardization and Certification of the Skolkovo Foundation, spoke about the features of international certification during the pandemic. According to the speaker, since the beginning of the quarantine, due to the closure of the borders, it has become impossible to travel to the sites of foreign auditors. This means that it has become impossible to obtain an international certificate.
If at first it was planned to wait for the end of the quarantine, now more and more individual approach is used. The speaker has identified three main groups of companies that want to certify their products. The first one are companies that have reached the "finish line", which were waiting for the auditors to visit their production lines in April.
According to Mr. Yudakov, they are in the most difficult position. There is no tried and true method of getting out of the situation yet. As a variant, some audit companies are now introducing the software, allowing to carry out remote inspection of an enterprise with a tie to its geolocation, time and consideration for protection of confidential information. The second group of companies are those, who are in the middle of the road - i.e. at the point of testing.
The work of laboratories in Europe, particularly in Italy and Germany, is now very limited and is being reoriented to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, such as Hong Kong. Finally, the third group are those, which have decided to certify their products now. According to an expert, surprisingly enough, but in his opinion, now is the best time to pass certification - a number of restrictions are being eased, and specialists, who have been transferred to periferal work, have the time to analyze the technical documentation.
And as for medical devices, the certification procedure has been simplified quite a bit, but the products still have to meet the European requirements. Innovations have also been introduced for non-medical products: for example, it is possible to conduct tests in a factory laboratory, if the personnel have passed the European certification. "The situation is rather more conducive for obtaining certificates for products," summed up Mr. Yudakov.
The CEO of the analytical company, Vlad Vnesh Service, Ms. Zhanna Martynova, presented a step-by-step anti-crisis plan for an exporter, importer and manufacturer. The main message of her speech was that during the crisis it is necessary to quickly adapt to the market needs. According to her, it is necessary to structure any product, analyze the market and its changes and identify the key product.
The speaker provided examples when, during crisis periods, thanks to competent analysis, companies managed not only to withstand, but also to measurably increase the scale of their production and sales. And this applies not only to the production of high-tech products, but, for example, food: according to Miss Martynova, exports of blackcurrant have increased by 204% over the past year. And such examples are not singular.
Ms. Veronika Lübke, the CEO of the Bridge-one-seven GmbH, spoke about the gradual withdrawal of the German-speaking countries from the quarantine. She noted that the majority of entrepreneurs are committed to further work. A number of large companies, including car companies, have started to come out of quarantine.Transportation traffic did not stop - goods were delivered throughout Germany. However, when trying to send goods to France, it turned out that there was no one to receive them.
The air carriers and railroads were the most affected. At the same time, a number of industries were not affected by the crisis, for example - small and medium-sized construction businesses, and companies, producing high-tech industrial installations. As for further prospects for exporting Russian goods to Germany, the expert believes that innovative products have the greatest potential for entering this market.
An attorney with the law firm SGP Schneider Geiwitz (the city Ulm), Ms. Olga Wallner, spoke about the main stages of entering German markets, emphasizing that one of the very important stages is the search for partners in Germany. One can find them in several ways: on one’s own, utilizing search engines (e.g. https://www.wlw.de), the German and Russian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, as well as through designated firms. When working with partners, it is crucial to take into account the specifics of the German business and law.
Moreover, at the stage of drafting a contract, the speaker strongly recommended the use of an attorney, as "Germans are very sophisticated in drafting contracts". In addition, the expert gave an overview of goods exported to Germany, including components for computers, electronic equipment, ATMs and other machines, including vending, food, machinery, spare parts, tools, products of chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
An attorney with the SGP Schneider Geiwitz group from the city of Ulm, Ms. Olga Wallner, spoke about the main stages of entering German markets, emphasizing that one of the important stages is the search for partners in Germany. You can find them in several ways: on your own, through search engines (e.g. https://www.wlw.de), the German and Russian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, as well as through specialized firms. When working with partners, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of business and German law.
Ms.Olga Wallner described a successful case of a Russian company, which developed a veterinary drug for cows and successfully sold it in Russia as well as in a number of other countries. Now the process of preparation for its delivery to Germany is underway.
Summing up the event, Mr. Vardanyan emphasised that now, the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry is attempting, as much as possible, to comprehensively and effectively inform entrepreneurs about the market situation, new practices, support measures taken by the authorities of the country and the city. "We very much hope that we will be able to come out of the situation with minimal losses, and maybe even with positive results ", - the vice-president of MCCI has declared.