​Association «StekloSouz» of Russia. Meeting on standardization of glass containers

In the second ten days of September, a meeting on standardization of glass containers was held in the Association "StekloSouz" of Russia (SSR).

The report was made by Lyudmila Sergeeva, Ph.D., expert in standardization, deputy director of the department "Glass containers" SSR.

The meeting was chaired by Viktor Osipov, President of the Association "StekloSouz" of Russia.

We publish the report of L.S. Sergeeva for your study:

Topic of the report: "A properly drafted contract for supplied glass packaging is the basis for the absence of conflict situations".

The problem of ensuring the quality of products when delivering them to the consumer is very relevant, and first of all for the buyer, because he pays. He is interested in receiving products of the appropriate quality. The supplier must convince the buyer that the offered products are exactly the quality he needs.

Before concluding a contract, the buyer selects the type of product of the required quality, for which he studies and analyzes the market, as well as documents presented by the supplier certifying the quality of the product. If the product is little known, then an expert test can be carried out, which makes it possible to check the product, primarily for safety indicators.

When concluding a contract, the manufacturer and the buyer must ensure that the contract is set out in full with a reference to the regulatory document indicating its designation, name and validity period, taking into account the requirements for product quality and the consequences of their possible violation. The quality condition is one of the essential conditions of the contract. In the absence of these conditions in the contract, it is considered not concluded (failed) and the arbitration does not accept the mutual claims of the parties for consideration. The quality of the products must comply with the requirements of regulatory documentation (GOST, GOST R, STO, and, if necessary, control samples for some characteristics that cannot be measured. In cases where the supplied products are subject to mandatory conformity assessment in accordance with the established procedure, for glass packaging for food products - declaration, as well as voluntary conformity assessment, this must be indicated in the contract.

When specifying the requirements for product quality in the contract, the parties are obliged to indicate the numbers of the regulatory documentation with an indication of the validity period and the submission of a declaration. If the product is manufactured according to STO or TU, they must be attached to the contract at the request of the consumer, as well as control samples (if provided) indicating the approval date and the name of the organization that approved the sample or the signatures of the interested enterprises. When delivering products according to agreed samples, the latter are described in the contract or an appendix to it indicating the storage procedure that ensures safety and excludes the possibility of challenging the authenticity of the samples.

The contract is the main document defining the rights and obligations of the parties, and therefore all its terms must be defined in such a form that the supplier knows what requirements the buyer has for product quality and for what violations he is responsible. If during the contract period new regulatory or design documentation for the supplied products is changed or approved, the supplier is obliged to inform the buyer about this and send them to him. The contract may provide for the supply of products of higher quality compared to the standards. Such an increase in quality may be expressed in the improvement of characteristics in order to ensure product properties not provided for by regulatory or design documentation. At the same time, the improvement of some indicators should not lead to a decrease in others. The parties also have the right to provide for an increase in product quality - by a certain period during the contract term, especially if it is concluded for a long term. Contracts can even provide for the participation of specialists from one or another party in the process of mastering the product, familiarizing the supplier with the conditions of its operation at the buyer. When concluding contracts, the parties may provide for the early implementation of new regulatory documentation for the products to be supplied. When concluding contracts, the parties have the right to provide warranty periods for certain properties of the products. The enterprise has the right to provide increased prices for products when improving their quality and familiarizing the buyer with the justification for the new price.

Often, enterprises draw up "standard contracts" without taking into account the specifics of the enterprise, the requirements are stated superficially, which leads to litigation and high costs. Currently, contracts have begun to be drawn up that are more carefully developed in terms of requirements for the quality of the supplied goods. The relationship between the seller and the buyer purchasing goods for personal use is regulated by the Civil Code and the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Protection of Consumer Rights".

Several articles of the Civil Code are aimed at ensuring the quality of the goods when concluding and implementing a contract. The articles of the Civil Code indicate that if the contract does not contain a condition on quality, and the seller was informed by the buyer of the specific purposes for which the goods were purchased, then the seller is obliged to transfer to the buyer goods suitable for the purposes for which they are intended.

However, when concluding a contract, it is better to precisely specify the type, kind of goods, their purpose, regulatory document, increased requirements, if any, expiration dates, quality guarantee if necessary, taking into account the requirements of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Law of the Russian Federation "On Protection of Consumer Rights", 184-FZ "On Technical Regulation", the requirements of the Technical Regulations and regulatory documents used in the contract. Contracts establish requirements for containers, packaging, storage and transportation.

The most common mistakes are when, in the presence of a contract or agreement, additional work is performed by verbal agreement, and then the customer refuses to sign the certificates of completion of work and pay for the additional work.

Quality control of the supplied goods

According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, quality control of goods may be provided for by law, other legal acts, mandatory requirements of interstate, national standards or a sales contract. In regulatory documentation, quality control is mainly reflected in the section "Acceptance Rules".

The absence of a quality control procedure in a contract creates grounds for conflict in the event of disagreements over quality. In this regard, it is advisable to stipulate the quality control procedure in contracts and specify:

• the place and time of checking a batch of products (before shipment from the manufacturer or after receipt from the consumer, etc.)
• control methods (according to regulatory documents, control samples, etc.)
• acceptance rules, scope of testing (continuous, selective)
• the composition of documents certifying the conformity of the products with the requirements of the contract (certificate of conformity, declaration, test report)

By agreement between the supplier and the buyer, the inspection may be performed by either the supplier (first party) or the buyer (second party), as well as an independent organization (third party).

The contract should also set out the deadlines for notifying the supplier of the receipt of goods of inadequate quality and specifically stipulate the liability and procedure for compensation for damage caused to the buyer. If the contracts for acceptance of products specify instruction No. P-7, approved by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on April 25, 1966 with the appropriate amendments, then the above-listed delivery conditions for quality are specified in detail.

"Instructions on the procedure for accepting industrial and technical products and consumer goods for quality" (No. P-7) are applied in all cases where the ND, Basic and Special Delivery Conditions or other rules binding on the parties do not establish a different procedure for accepting products. According to the instructions, products must be shipped that meet the quality and completeness requirements established in the regulatory documentation, drawings, samples, and recipes. Products that have not passed the quality check, as well as products whose shipment was prohibited by the bodies exercising control over product quality, must not be shipped.

In addition to Instruction No. P-7 (acceptance by quality), acceptance of products is also carried out by quantity, in accordance with Instruction No. P-6 “Instructions on the procedure for accepting products for industrial and technical purposes and consumer goods by quantity” dated June 15, 1965, which is applied in cases where GOST, STO, TU, Basic and Special Delivery Conditions or other mandatory rules do not establish another procedure for accepting products by quantity.

Some goods have an expiration date. The expiration date of a product (services rendered) is calculated from the date of its manufacture until the time determined by its suitability for use, or until the date after which it is unsuitable for use. The duration of the expiration date of a product must comply with mandatory product safety requirements, if they are established by standards.

It is generally impossible to establish an expiration date for glass products due to their fragility. But it is possible to limit the shelf life of glass products if the values of any indicators affect their use, for example, water resistance of bottles for liquor products.

If the consumer purchases a product of inadequate quality, the seller is obliged to replace this product with a product of adequate quality or return the amount paid by the consumer.

In this case, the consumer has the right to demand full compensation for damages caused as a result of the sale of goods of inadequate quality.

Thus, when concluding contracts, the type of product, the ND for which it is supplied, the terms of delivery, the type of packaging and ND for packaging, information about what you have been supplied with, the terms of acceptance and, if necessary, the warranty period for a particular quality of the product should be clearly formulated. When accepting, the following should be checked: documents, packaging, availability in quantity and compliance with ND for quality, having made a sample of the products being checked. Draw up an acceptance report indicating the members of the commission, the products being checked, the types of defects in the sample, if any, and the degree of their compliance with certain points of the ND, signature and date.

Press center of "StekloSouz".