Petrochem/Utilities Industry Trends

The Evolution of GOST Standards

Issue Table of Contents

The Changing Face of Russia’s Oil Industry The Importance of Gosstandart: Q&A with Steen Andersen The Evolution of GOST Standards Gosstandart of Russia (GOST) Related Standards and Publications

Petrochemical companies have come to rely on industry-recognized standards and specifications in order to ensure safety and compliance with government regulations. In many countries, these standards are developed by industry consortiums, and are designed to help member companies operate within local and international government requirements. These specifications are therefore not requirements, but are the result of the combined knowledge of many different types of petrochemical companies working together to create standards that work for the industry as a whole.

Up until recently, however, this was not the case in Russia and the other republics comprising the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In the old Soviet Union, petrochemical standards and regulations weren’t merely suggestions — they were law. And since the oil industry was run by the state, there was no question of compliance.

Since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, much has changed. The privatization movement that resulted in the creation of a number of privately owned oil companies and an influx of foreign investment has also led to an overhaul of the industry. And Gosstandart of Russia — the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Standardization and Metrology — is working hard to keep up.

To meet the demands of the changing climate in Russia, such as the new Russian oil industry, in 1995 Gosstandart created Interstandard, a non-commercial organization dedicated to providing standards, and consulting and technology services to domestic and international manufacturers and suppliers of products to the Russian market. These standards are called GOST standards — GOST is an abbreviation of “Gosudarstwennyl Standart,” Russian for “Government Standardization.” As a government organization, Gosstandart was not able to provide these services to the commercial sector; instead, Interstandard draws upon the body of information compiled by Gosstandart to offer this information directly to companies.

Also, explains Steen Andersen, sales and marketing director for IHS Nordic, Interstandard helped Gosstandart better manage the publication of standards in a dramatically different world. “Until fairly recently, GOST standards were not voluntary standards like industry standards are throughout the world. They were actually mandatory and regarded as law. And since it was law, they were virtually handed over for free,” Steen says.

In this new environment, however, GOST standards are no longer regarded as law, but suggestions that can greatly help companies ensure compliance with Russian requirements. However, as a state-owned party issuing the documents, Gosstandart was unable to copyright the standards it was creating and no longer wanted to give away.

But the passage of a new law modernizing standardization practices in Russia on July 1, 2003 is changing this, allowing for the issuance of copyrights for standards created in Russia. “Gradually you’ll see that more and more of the GOST standards in Russia will actually be separated from the state body, Gostandart of Russia, and become the property of the private company Interstandard, and as soon as they are property of the private company, their copyrights can be enforced in any other country,” says Steen.

Interstandard offers more than 22,000 standards for 20 industries, including petroleum, chemical, mining and mineral resources, power and electrical equipment, and oil and gas products. While most of these standards are in Russian, Interstandard has translated more than 3,000 of them into English and is continuing to translate even more.

Also, as Russia evolves its standards to better reflect international practices, Interstandard is tasked with translating into Russian and publishing standards created by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The organization also has an important role in creating an effective management system for standardization activities as required to ensure the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization.