The national regime is a system of legal measures applied in public procurement to support domestic producers. Its application is stipulated in Article 14 of Federal Law No. 44-FL "On the Contract System", and the specific implementation procedure is established by resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation. Since January 1, 2025, the key document has been the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1875 of December 23, 2024, which established uniform rules for the application of the national procurement regime under 44-FL and 223-FL. The document combined previously existing disparate restrictions and introduced a single mechanism to protect domestic producers when purchasing goods for state and municipal needs.
The essence of the national regime
The national regime assumes that when conducting purchases, government customers are required to take into account the origin of the goods and apply special measures aimed at prioritizing Russian products. These measures are aimed at developing the national industry, stimulating the localization of production and reducing dependence on imported supplies.
It is important to understand that the national regime applies primarily to goods supplied under government contracts. If the purchase is related only to the provision of services or the performance of work without the delivery of products, the rules of the national regime usually do not apply.
The main mechanisms of the national regime
The modern system of national treatment is based on three main mechanisms:
1. Prohibition of purchase of foreign goods
A total ban on the purchase of foreign goods has been established for a number of product categories. The list of such goods is fixed in the annexes to Resolution No. 1875. If the object of purchase is included in this list, applications with foreign products are subject to rejection, regardless of price or other conditions.
2. Restriction of admission of foreign goods
A restriction mechanism is applied for some product categories. It operates on the principle of competitive selection: if at least two applications have been submitted for purchase with goods of Russian or Eurasian origin that meet the requirements of the documentation, applications with foreign products are rejected.
3. Providing advantages to Russian goods
In cases where no direct ban or restriction has been established, legislation provides an advantage for Russian goods. It can be expressed in the adjustment of the evaluation of the application or the provision of price preferences.
Confirmation of the country of origin of the goods
In order to apply the national regime, the procurement participant must confirm the origin of the products offered. The main confirmation is an entry in the register of Russian industrial products, which is maintained by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. The Eurasian Register of Industrial Goods is used for goods produced in the States of the Eurasian Economic Union.
In some cases, it is allowed to use a certificate of origin of the ST-1 form or other documents confirming the production of goods on the territory of the EAEU states. In the absence of proof of origin, the application may be recognized as containing a foreign product.
Practical application of the national regime
In practice, the national regime significantly influences the strategy of companies' participation in public procurement. Customers are required to take into account the established restrictions when forming documentation and describing the object of purchase. In turn, suppliers must check in advance the origin of the products and the correctness of the documents confirming their production.
If the requirements of the national regime are applied incorrectly, for example, the customer incorrectly described the object of purchase or the participant did not confirm the origin of the goods, this may lead to the rejection of the application or the appeal of the purchase.
