If not the registry, then TKO?

The introduction of a scoring system for determining the level of nationality of telecommunications equipment (TSE) caused sharp controversy in the industry. Companies fear that the system will weaken verification procedures and the Russian electronics register will be filled with Chinese-made equipment. The Ministry of Industry and Trade calls the mechanism “classic and effective in other segments”.

An interlocutor of Kommersant in one of the MSW producers said that on June 28, Konstantin Dolgov, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, held a meeting at which companies, including Eltex, T8, NPO KIS, ANO Telecommunication Technologies (ANO TT), discussed the possibility of suspending the adoption of a point system to determine the domesticity of MSW (Kommersant has the minutes of the meeting).

Mr. Dolgov confirmed to Kommersant the fact of the meeting: according to him, some MSW producers are concerned that if the point system is adopted, the requirements for equipment localization will be reduced: “We are now in close communication with companies and the Ministry of Industry and Trade on this issue. The task is not to weaken the requirements for the level of “domestic” equipment. The senator added that it is necessary to create incentives to increase the level of MSW localization.

In April, the Ministry of Industry and Trade published a draft resolution on regulation.gov.ru, which proposed through amendments to the 719th resolution to introduce a point system to determine the domesticity of MSW. According to it, the equipment is recognized as Russian and receives preferences in public procurement if its vendor scores a certain number of points in the localization of production. In this case, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and not the MES, is in charge of checking the equipment. The entry into force of the amendments implies that the norms of the resolution on the recognition of MSW as Russian will lose their force.

Market participants fear that the CCI experts will not have enough competencies to check. “Unscrupulous producers and pseudo-localizers will create a systemic lack of demand for real Russian MSW on the market,” says ANO TT in a letter sent to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov in April (Kommersant has it). It is important that during the transition to a new registry, the criteria for determining nationality do not decrease, Kommersant was confirmed in ANO TT. According to a Kommersant source in one of the manufacturers, the companies’ concerns are also related to the fact that a number of enterprises received subsidies for the development of MSW, but within the points system, this equipment, due to a higher price compared to the actual Chinese one, will be unclaimed.

Alexander Senyukov, GR director of T8, also spoke about the fact that a “conflict situation” has developed in the industry: “The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Digital Transformation are promoting the transfer of MSW from Decree 878 to Decree 719, and in a form that is not agreed with the vast majority of companies in the industry and the leading industry consortium.” There is a feeling, he argues, that “they are trying to make a decision in the interests of literally one or two companies that are striving to urgently bring foreign equipment to the market under the guise of domestic foreign equipment.”

Meanwhile, for example, Aquarius believes that the scoring system and the CCI institute for evaluation are “logical for the entire industry.” “If there are fears that there will be abuses, a transitional period can be introduced when the experts of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry can be assisted by the expert group of ANO TT,” they say. Aquarius President Vladimir Stepanov considers it logical to introduce labeling and control not only evaluation, but also production and marketing.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade told Kommersant that they were aware of the discussion. But they believe that “a classic mechanism has been developed and proposed that effectively functions in all other segments of the industry, including radio-electronics.”

Nikita Korolev