The circulation of low-quality goods subject to labeling may begin to be blocked out of court using the “Honest Sign” system – such a bill has been submitted to the State Duma and may be considered in the first reading in July. It is expected that the changes will make it possible to urgently respond to the risks of mass harm to buyers of dangerous products and suspend their sales by all sellers without exception. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the operator of the labeling system, the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT), support the initiative and participated in its preparation. Business believes that the mechanism requires improvement.
The State Information System for monitoring the turnover of labeled products (GIS MT) “Honest Sign” (covers food products, consumer goods, electronics, medical products, etc.) can begin to be used for automated suspension of sales of goods dangerous to consumers – such a bill was submitted to the State Duma by deputy Sergei Lisovsky. The document can be considered in the first reading in July; if adopted, its main provisions will come into force on September 1, 2026. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the operator of the “Honest Sign” CRPT – together they participated in its refinement, the ministry told Kommersant.
It is proposed to make changes to five laws at once: “On technical regulation”, “On control and supervision”, “On the fundamentals of regulation of trade activities”, “On the protection of consumer rights” and “On the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population”. According to the bill, orders to suspend the sale of potentially dangerous goods will be executed through the GIS MT: sales will be blocked from all sellers who have such products on their balance sheet. In the meantime, the explanatory note says, when sales are suspended by one seller, dangerous goods continue to reach consumers through others. At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade clarifies, we are talking about serious violations that can cause harm to life and health.
Now, as the CRPT explained to Kommersant, such restrictions, even with the risk of mass poisonings, are only possible through the courts, which slows down the removal of dangerous products from circulation.
The proposed out-of-court procedure will make it possible to urgently block sales – it is expected that the process will be shortened from several months to several hours. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that this will contribute to the “further development of preventive control.” The CRPT adds that they are technically ready for innovations.
Other innovations are also proposed.
- For example, it will be possible to check sellers for compliance with labeling requirements without prior notification – during random control, raid inspection, documentary or on-site inspection.
- The grounds for blocking are also expanding: control authorities will be able to rely, for example, on the results of criminal investigations. Depending on the degree of threat posed by the sale of certain goods, chief state sanitary doctors (including regional ones) and their deputies will be able to issue orders for a specific batch, a separate type of product or products released over a certain period of time.
- If the grounds for blocking sales are removed, the goods can be returned to circulation after three days.
According to Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies, the procedure for resuming sales is not yet completely clear and needs to be detailed – otherwise there is a risk that businesses will face uncompensated costs for the seizure and disposal of goods. In addition, he believes, it is necessary to limit the liability of those who took all possible measures to stop the sale of low-quality goods. Chairman of the Association of Omni-Channel Retail Companies Stanislav Bogdanov recalls that since 2024, as part of the labeling system, a permitting regime has already been applied to a number of products, which automatically blocks the sale of questionable products at the checkout. With the help of this mechanism, noted Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Ekaterina Priezzheva, the sale of 3.3 billion goods was blocked.
However, as noted in the recently approved strategy for combating illicit trafficking in goods, despite the wide coverage of goods by the labeling system, products continue to be sold on the domestic market without complying with mandatory requirements for their quality. We are talking not only about food, but also, for example, cosmetics, household chemicals, clothing, children’s products, medicines (see “Kommersant” dated April 1).
