The Eurasian Economic Commission has published, on 8 August 2017, a draft agreement that would establish the legal framework for the common system of labelling products with control (identification) signs.
If the agreement is adopted, it would put in place a system where certain products will be marked with an “identification means” or a “material carrier” which will be used for product identification purposes.
An “identification means” is a special mark consisting of a unique combination of symbols that will be machine readable and represented as a bar code or recorded on a special RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag or presented by another means of automatic identification.
A "material carrier" is an identification (control) mark or object made of any materials, that might contain security elements and is intended for applying, storing and transferring means of identification.
The draft agreement aims to set up a treaty between the EAEU Member States for the implementation of the common marking system. The list of specific products to which the identification mark must be applied will be adopted separately.
The goal that is pursued by the introduction of the common marking system is to ensure better transparency of product movement within the EAEU territory.
Previously, in 2015, a pilot project was implemented that imposed the requirement to label clothing as well as some other products made of natural fur with similar identification marks. This requirement entered into force in August 2016 and was extended by the special Protocol that was adopted later.
The pilot project and the Protocol are to be repealed as soon as the draft agreement enters into force.