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Starting 1 January 2026, new rules will come into effect in Kazakhstan, significantly expanding the scope and mandatory use of the National Catalogue of Goods (NCG) – an e-government digital platform that serves as the national register of product data and a single source of product nomenclature, required to be used as a reference for goods in commercial activities.
What Has Changed?
Previously, according to the Rules for Maintaining the National Catalogue of Goods dated 31 July 2025, only goods subject to mandatory labeling had to be registered in the NCG. However, from 1 January 2026, the following changes apply to trading activities:
1) Obligation to Register All Goods
From 2026, mandatory registration in the NCG will apply to all goods sold in Kazakhstan. According to amendments to the Law on Regulation of Trading Activities, trade entities will be required to:
- register goods in the National Catalogue before their sale when producing or importing products;
- sell goods at retail and wholesale only if information about the goods is available in the National Catalogue. Without registration in the catalogue, selling the product will not be allowed.
2) Assignment of a Identification Code
Each product in the catalogue is assigned a identification code – a machine-readable sequence of characters presented as a barcode, allocated to types of goods and included in the National Catalogue to enable unambiguous identification in commercial activities.
The NCG serves as the sole source of product data for businesses, fiscal systems, regulators, and consumers, ensuring consistency in names, classifications, and technical characteristics across all goods.
How Registration Works
Product registration is carried out electronically through the official NCG portal or via integrated business systems. The registration application should include:
- Basic information: product name, classification, trademark, country of origin, manufacturer details;
- Measurable characteristics: dimensions, weight, composition;
- Information on standards and supporting documents confirming compliance with established requirements;
- Compliance documents for goods subject to mandatory conformity assessment;
- Visual materials: images illustrating the product's appearance.
If the product is already in the catalogue, re-registration is not required.
Liability for Non-Compliance
Administrative liability arises if a product is sold without the mandatory identification code. In such cases, fines may be imposed in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan, depending on the category of the legal entity, typically ranging from 20 to 40 Monthly Calculation Indexes (MCI) for repeated violations within a year.
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Sources:
- https://www.zakon.kz/pravo/6501571-novogodnyaya-nerasprodazha-chem-i-komu-grozyat-novye-pravila-o-registratsii-tovarov-pered-realizatsiey.html
- https://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=37846097&pos=29;-52#pos=29;-52
- https://pro1c.kz/articles/prochee/vse-pro-natsionalnyy-katalog-tovarov/
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