Overview of the Kazakhstan Regulatory Structure

• Republican (national) level – the President, the Government and republican bodies of state administration such as ministries, state committees, agencies and national services.
• Local level – regional, city and district akimats (local executive bodies) headed by akims, which implement national policy and adopt local regulations within their competence.

• general competence – broad management of state affairs (primarily the Government of Kazakhstan);
• sectoral competence – management and regulation in individual sectors (industry, construction, energy, health, environment, agriculture, etc.);
• intersectoral competence – regulation of cross-cutting issues such as technical regulation, standardization, metrology, statistics and digitalization;
• special competence – supervisory, inspection, permitting and enforcement functions (for example, sanitary surveillance, industrial safety, customs and tax control).

• organizes implementation of laws and presidential acts;
• issues resolutions and orders regulating economic, social and technical matters;
• coordinates the activities of republican executive bodies, including those responsible for technical regulation, standardization, health, construction, environment, energy and industry.

• develops and implements state policy in technical regulation, standardization and metrology;
• coordinates development, adoption and application of national standards ST RK and interstate GOST standards;
• participates in elaboration and application of technical regulations of Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU TR);
• organizes state metrological control and ensures traceability of measurements.

• acts as the national standardization body and represents Kazakhstan in international and regional standardization organizations;
• develops and maintains national standards ST RK and participates in adoption of GOST standards;
• maintains the national fund, registers and databases of technical normative legal acts;
• performs metrological functions and provides reference measurement standards.

• provides leadership in industry, mining and metallurgical sectors, mechanical engineering and construction materials;
• oversees architectural, urban planning and construction activities;
• approves construction-related technical normative legal acts, including building norms and rules of the Republic of Kazakhstan (SN RK), codes of practice (SP RK) and other construction standards and guidelines;
• regulates safety of machinery and equipment and certain categories of industrial products in its field.

• development and implementation of environmental policy and environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures;
• issuance of permits for certain activities affecting the environment (emissions, discharges, waste disposal etc.);
• adoption of environmental technical normative legal acts and environmental standards.

• conducts sanitary and epidemiological supervision of facilities, products and activities;
• approves sanitary rules and norms (SanPiN) and other health regulations, including hygienic standards and maximum permissible levels for harmful factors;
• issues sanitary-epidemiological conclusions and permits required for many types of activities and products.

• norms and rules on fire safety and civil defence;
• requirements for emergency preparedness of hazardous facilities and organizations.

• administers taxes, fees and customs duties;
• conducts tax and customs control of business entities;
• verifies compliance of imported goods with technical regulations and standards of Kazakhstan and the EAEU.

• Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan – the basic law that establishes the foundations of the political system, rights and freedoms of citizens and the organization of state power.
• Decisions of national referendums – have the force of constitutional law.
• Constitutional laws – regulate key constitutional matters such as elections, judicial system, state symbols and other fundamental institutions.
• Ordinary laws – including codes (Civil Code, Tax Code, Entrepreneurial Code, Environmental Code, Labour Code, Health Code, etc.) and other sectoral laws adopted by Parliament and signed by the President.
• International treaties – form part of the legal system and may prevail over conflicting national laws in accordance with the Constitution and treaty provisions.
• Decrees and edicts of the President – important acts with high legal force regulating economic, administrative and institutional matters.
• Resolutions of the Government (Council of Ministers) – governmental acts implementing laws and presidential acts and regulating practical issues of state administration.
• Normative legal acts of republican executive bodies – orders, rules, regulations and instructions of ministries, state committees, agencies and the National Bank adopted within their competence.
• Normative legal acts of local representative and executive bodies – decisions of maslikhats (local representative bodies) and resolutions of akimats (local executive bodies) adopted on issues within their jurisdiction.

National Standards of Kazakhstan (ST RK) – state standards of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved by the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology and developed by KazStandard. ST RK establish requirements for products, processes, test methods, terminology, labelling and management systems and are often harmonized with international and regional standards.

Interstate Standards (GOST, GOST R, GOST ISO, etc.) – standards adopted within the interstate standardization system of the CIS and the EAEU. Many GOST standards are implemented in Kazakhstan and used alongside ST RK to confirm compliance with technical regulations and contractual requirements.

Building norms and rules of the Republic of Kazakhstan (SN RK) and codes of practice (SP RK / TKP) – construction-related technical normative legal acts approved by the Ministry of Industry and Construction or other authorized bodies. They specify requirements for design, construction, reconstruction, engineering systems, building materials, fire safety and technical supervision of construction projects.

Sanitary norms and rules (SanPiN) and hygienic standards – sanitary-epidemiological TNLAs adopted by the Ministry of Healthcare and the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Control. They contain binding requirements for hygiene, working conditions, drinking water, food safety, housing, education institutions, medical organizations and other facilities and activities that affect public health.

Technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU TR) – regional technical regulations that are directly applicable in Kazakhstan as an EAEU member. They define mandatory safety requirements for wide categories of products (industrial equipment, machinery, low-voltage equipment, pressure vessels, food, cosmetics, children’s products, etc.), while ST RK and GOST standards usually serve as recommended means of compliance.

Methodological guidelines, rules, instructions and other TNLAs – more detailed technical documents adopted by republican bodies (for example, in the fields of environmental protection, industrial safety, energy efficiency, metrology, transport safety and agriculture) that support implementation of laws and technical regulations and are often referenced in contracts and permits.

• land-use and zoning rules and urban planning documentation;
• local infrastructure and municipal service regulations (water supply, sewerage, heating, waste management);
• local fees and payments and certain environmental and public-order measures.