In December last year, Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko appointed Serhiy Kostyuk (NAAU) as the head of the National Accreditation Agency, which can put an end to the signing of an agreement between Ukraine and the EU. SUD.UA decided to find out how this body works and what its leader does.
“At the international level, we constantly emphasize the need to invest in Ukraine for its recovery, rich potential for business development, elimination of all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles through digitalization and the fight against corruption.
However, from time to time in our country there are cases when officials believe that they can dictate their own rules and set obstacles, guided by their own considerations.
One such example is the head of the National Accreditation Agency Sergey Kostyuk.
In December 2014, the Kyiv prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine detained Kostyuk on suspicion of abuse of office, which caused damage to the state in the amount of 23 million hryvnias. At that time, he was the chairman of the board of Ukrgasdobycha. However, he was acquitted by court order. - writes the publication.
The National Accreditation Agency accredits testing laboratories and certification bodies involved in checking the quality of products entering the Ukrainian market. Such accreditation is provided for by international standards. Its activities essentially determine how high-quality and safe products will reach Ukrainian consumers.
However, as these authorities informed our publication, the Agency and its management have actually stopped working and going to work for the last six months. The documents of the conformity assessment bodies have been in the offices since December 2022 - that is, from the moment Kostyuk was appointed, and “gaining state weight.” In fact, the head of the NAAU Sergey Kostyuk and his deputies are artificially delaying the deadlines for completing accreditation work,” writes a judicial-legal newspaper.
As they say, these delays are related to the non-coordination of documents and contracts for the performance of work, since for NAAU, in a strange way, the legislation does not set deadlines regulating the coordination and execution of these documents.
“There are also big questions about the competence of the head of the NAAU Sergey Kostyuk. So, for appointment, he must meet the criteria defined by Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies”, namely: “The head of the national body of Ukraine for accreditation can be a citizen of Ukraine, permanently residing in Ukraine, having a complete higher education, general experience work in senior positions for at least five years, experience in the field of accreditation of conformity assessment bodies or in the conduct of conformity assessment for at least two years.
Sergei Kostyuk does not have this experience, but in the Ministry of Economy, again, in a strange way, this discrepancy was “not noticed”. Moreover, officials of the Ministry of Economy for some reason decided to hide the biographical information of Sergei Kostyuk, which could indicate that his appointment was in violation of the procedure provided for by regulatory acts.
It should be added that, in addition to the requirements of the Law, the NAAU defines the requirements for personnel involved in the decision-making process on accreditation (Methodology “Personnel management for accreditation” (M-09.08.01). This Methodology has been adopted in accordance with international requirements. But, as it turns out, the candidacy of Sergei Kostyuk did not meet these acts,” - writes the publication. And he adds that the Ministry of Economy could not explain why the decision on accreditation is made by an incompetent person.
Judicial-legal newspaper notes that such a situation in the future may lead to the termination of mutual recognition agreements by the European Accreditation Cooperation, the International Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation and the International Accreditation Forum, which, in turn, will put an end to the signing of the Assessment Agreement . conformity and acceptability of industrial products (ACA) between Ukraine and the EU, which the Cabinet of Ministers in the person of Denis Shmyhal and Yulia Sviridenko herself has been talking about for many years.
“Obviously, this will become an additional barrier for Ukraine on the way to EU membership. Will the Ministry of Economy and the Government be able to take steps to prevent such consequences, are the members of the Cabinet of Ministers generally aware of the situation in the UNAU and its risks? Recall that due to the abuse of the head of the National Agency for Accreditation, Sergei Kostyuk, a statement about a crime was received in the BEB, NABU, DBR, SAP,” - sums up the publication.
Source: Fakty
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