A bill on the safety of products manufactured according to STO/TU has been submitted to the State Duma.

According to the explanatory note to the bill, a significant portion of products are currently manufactured in accordance with STO/TU standards, especially in the food and consumer goods sectors, where their share is at least 40%. Moreover, "according to expert estimates, the share of products on the market that do not meet the requirements and standards declared by manufacturers reaches 60-80% (more than 60% for fish, more than 50% for milk)," the note also notes.

If a manufacturer manufactures products in accordance with GOST standards and states this, for example, on the product packaging, then they are responsible for this. "A manufacturer who claims to manufacture products in accordance with their own STO/TU standards (the contents of which, in most cases, are unknown to anyone except the manufacturer) bears no such responsibility," notes Nadezhda Shkolkina. The bill

was developed to "eliminate legal uncertainty and increase consumer confidence in the safety and quality of products manufactured in accordance with STO/TU standards," she explains. It obliges product manufacturers who publicly declare their compliance with STO/TU to apply the requirements of such standards and conditions and register them with the Federal Information Fund of Standards. This provides for the review of not only drafts but also approved organizational standards, including technical specifications. This "will solve two problems: the transparency of STO/TU requirements for regulatory authorities and the need to review them for compliance with all current mandatory requirements," the deputy explains. Furthermore, according to the explanatory note, the procedure for reviewing STO/TU and their drafts "will address intellectual property protection issues, as well as the possibility of conducting the review not only in technical committees and project technical committees for standardization, but also in standardization, metrology, and certification centers under the jurisdiction of Rosstandart."