Majilis Speaker: non-governmental standards are a sign of unfair competition

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The issue of applying non-governmental standards in public procurement was raised during the first reading of the bill "On Standardization" at the plenary session of the Majilis today, the press service of the Lower Chamber reports.

In particular, parliamentarians voiced their concerns that the non-governmental standard leads to a risk of collusion in a narrow circle of entrepreneurs who could join non-profit organizations and assert their own standards for suppressing competition. According to the deputies, this creates conditions for limiting fair competition and significant corruption risks.

- It is not a secret that in accordance with the rules of the Ministry of Finance uncontrolled non-government standards are applied in public procurement. Everyone understands that under such standards, which are not approved by the state, dishonest customers can "tailor" tender documentation for certain suppliers, in whom winning they are interested," Majilis Speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin said, addressing the representative of the Ministry of Finance.

According to him, this gives such suppliers undue advantages, which is the basis of unfair competition.

- I think it's time to stop this practice. In the system of public procurement, including in the quasi-public sector, tenders should be conducted only according to the government-approved standards, - Nurlan Nigmatulin said.

At the same time, addressing the Government, the Speaker proposed to removal "non-governmental" standards from the public procurement guides.

- Then there will be fair competition, which is impossible, as long as the standards are crafted to favor certain suppliers. Right now we see that sometimes non-governmental standards are developed in the interests of dishonest suppliers. And this is not right, he stressed.