The Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities Sector of the Russian Federation has published amendments to the "Rules for assessing the eligibility of new materials, products and technologies for use in construction." The permit for an application of a new technology or a new material should now be issued (or denied) within just five working days. Amendments will be submitted to the government for final review in mid-June.

“We are moving away from long chains of approval of applications, from waiting for conclusions, from the need to provide additional documents. Because it all took months,” says director of the Federal Center for Regulation and Standardization, Andrei Basov.

The amendments approve the use of a technical certificate as the only document necessary (instead of multiple papers like before) and the list of products subject for the approval procedure — from mineral and organic binders, fiber cement and asbestos cement to concrete and fiberglass concrete.

The amendments are a timely aid for the construction industry in the wake of the construction season, as cement demand in Russia is starting to recover, and the government support for the industry helps alleviate the financial consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown.