"Many Goods Will Become Less Affordable For Russians"

• 18.02.2026, 21:39

Russia started having problems with parallel imports.

The fight against whitewashing imports to fill the budget has hit the supply of goods to Russia. Independent importers report problems with the importation of clothing, shoes and gadgets of well-known brands, writes The Moscow Times.

Russian regulators are massively revoking certificates and declarations of conformity for products imported by parallel imports, i.e. without the consent of the right holder. These documents are necessary for the sale of many goods - from children's toys and clothes to computers, car parts and industrial equipment.

Russia will strictly protect the domestic market from unfair imports, including those coming into Russia from the Eurasian Economic Union countries, warned Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk. Fighting "gray" certificates of conformity, issued in the territory of the EAEU countries without proper examination, he said, is one of the ways of protection, along with the launch of transaction control systems and strengthening inspections at the borders.

According to him, when Russia began to strengthen control over the quality of imports, the issuance of certificates and declarations of conformity began to flow to other EAEU countries: "Products entering our market on the basis of such documents, not only creates unfair competition to Russian goods producers, but also creates unfair competition to Russian producers. In total, more than 8% of goods are imported into Russia by parallel import, as follows from the Federal Customs Service data. All imports last year amounted to $279 billion, while parallel imports brought in $20.9 billion worth of goods in 11 months.

From the end of 2025. Goskontrol and Rosakkreditatsiya have been given the right to suspend questionable certificates issued in EAEU countries.

In January, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov lamented the extremely slow suspension of documents issued in violation - only 27 certificates and two declarations have been canceled, a negligible number of the total. In order to speed up the process, the government in early February allowed Rosakkreditation to suspend at once all certificates from those centers that had at least three certificates suspended during the year.

The agency promptly used this right, reporting the suspension of certificates of conformity in Russia, which were issued during the year from February 9 by three laboratories in Kyrgyzstan (LLC "Muras Certification Center", LLC "Certification and Testing Center", LLC "Expert-Line"). Products with their certificates will not be allowed to be imported and sold in Russia. These are popular organizations, importers say. According to Rosakkreditation, these three centers issued more than 15.5 thousand certificates in 2025. However, the documents issued before February 9 are still valid.

The authorities' policy may create a shortage of goods in Russia that come in parallel imports, importers warn. They admit that a number of certification centers in the same Kyrgyzstan could issue certificates without proper testing procedures, but explain it by the fact that otherwise it was simply impossible due to the lack of necessary equipment. The fact is that in the EAEU since 2022 certificates were issued for goods that their manufacturers formally prohibited to supply to Russia - from clothing and shoes Adidas and Nike to Apple equipment, not to mention sanctioned goods.

"It is clear that none of these manufacturers, even if they really want to sell their products here, will not issue documentation and will not officially provide samples for testing in Russia, so they found a loophole - they issued everything in the EAEU, often with the informal consent of the brand. Another thing is that there were few or no laboratories there, capable of conducting a number of tests necessary for some products," explains the owner of a trading house engaged in importing goods into Russia.

"Well, nobody canceled corruption, the desire to save time and money, so laboratories sometimes bought test reports somewhere, and importers bought certificates from them. Sometimes they were fake papers with no checks and protocols behind them," he admits. But now all certificates that raise questions will be suspended, and this will significantly slow down parallel imports.

The certificates for electronics Apple, ASUS, HP, Dell, LG Electronics, Bosch, Philips, spare parts for Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan, clothes and shoes Nike, Puma and Under Armour, according to Mash. In this case, their importers will have to look for other laboratories, possibly even in other countries, and re-issue documents, and this will require time and money, market participants recognize. At least 10 certificates of conformity for shoes and clothing from Adidas have already been canceled due to the lack of test protocols, which led to delays in the delivery of some models for online retailer Lamoda.

But the government does not intend to stop. While the certificates are suspended for a year, but Russia will develop a mechanism for their full revocation, Reshetnikov promised deputies.

"Everything is clear. The pretext of protecting consumers from low-quality imports is a plausible one, there is indeed a problem with quality, but we see that the authorities in general are trying to limit the possibility of importing goods without full customs clearance in Russia," says a large importer. - The budget, of course, needs money, but this way many familiar goods, which are now being imported in parallel through the EAEU, will become less accessible to Russians".

This year parallel imports will continue to decline, the Ministry of Industry and Trade predicts.