This letter is issued on a body form and sealed by the certifying organ. Exemption letter is required when the question of the category (by which code of OKP or TN VED) of the product does not have a clear answer. The question might arise in controlling entities – Federal Customs Agency and others, and also can be made by your customers that demande the certificate of Conformity of GOST –R for your product.
Keep in mind that simple words are not valid for the authorities; they need confirmation in paper form. Concern yourself with the necessary documents beforehand. 
There are two types of exemption letters:
- For Customs Service
- For Trade
They differ in address only. For trade– the letter is designated to the Solicitor (director of a company or individual unincorporated entrepreneur, applied for the letter). For Customs Service is addressing to the Head of State Customs Agency of the Russian Federation, containing information about the contract and invoice data, according to which this product is imported to the Russian Federation. There are no other differences.
The last peculiarity is that only VNIIS (Institute of Certification Research and Development for all Russia), Moscow, is authorized to issue exemption letter for Customs pursuant to Agreement dated 17.03.2003 no. 07-61/10816 “On issuing of permissions by VNIIS”.
Sometimes the question concerning the necessity of certification arises with your customers, who can require Quality Conformity certificate for the products sold by you. In this particular case it’s worth reminding that the Exemption letter is not a guarantee of the product quality, so it’s preferable to obtain Voluntary certificate..
