NASTKhOL Certification Center is the first certification agency in the country which has been given the authority to certify production in a cross section of chemical and petroleum machinery manufacture. NASTKhOL was created as a certification agency by Decree of the State Standards Committee [Gossstandart] during the period when certification was beginning in Russia, under the aegis of the scientific-technical division and laboratory specializing in chemical and petroleum equipment of the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for Standardization in Machinery Manufacture (certificate of accreditation dated August 31, 1992, No. RSSG.RU.001.51.NA02). While initially the accreditation sphere of NASTKhOL included pumps, fittings, refrigeration and compressor equipment, and pipeline connections, presently its authority has been considerably expanded. The accreditation sphere of the center includes the entire range of industrial equipment made by enterprises in the chemical and petroleum machinery manufacture industry, completely comprising the 36th and 37th classes of the All-Russian Production Classifier, and also equipment of similar function and type but included in other classifier groups. This includes various chemical and petroleum and gas refinery equipment designed to carry out all the diverse physical and chemical production processes; pumping equipment; equipment for reprocessing polymer materials, for production of cellulose and paper-making; oil field and drilling equipment; refrigeration, compressor, and cryogenic equipment; equipment for ,~oring and transporting compressed gas; equipment for gas-flame treatment of materials, for application of paint and varnish coatings; gas-purifying and dust-collecting equipment; industrial pipeline fittings, including cryogenic and sanitary-engineering; pipeline connections and parts; equipment for water purification and treatment; air conditioners and fans, including for household use. Furthermore, the accreditation sphere of the center also includes some types of power-generating equipment: boilers and boiler equipment, heating systems and heat generators, torches, etc. In 1995, NASTKhOL Certification Center, within the established procedure, was re-registered by the State Standards Committee of the Russian Federation as a certification center (certificate of accreditation No. ROCC.RU.001.01.AYa45 with term up to September 22, 1998), i.e., a certification agency having a testing complex for carrying out certification tests. Being from its very inception an independent legal entity, NASTKhOL Certification Center is an absolutely independent organization, which eliminates the possibility of any influence on the objectivity of the results of certification work carried out by it. The center has at its disposal highly qualified staff with a great deal of practical experience working in various industries. The staff of associates includes Candidates of Technical Sciences and auditor/inspectors accredited by the State Standards Committee of the Russian Federation. All specialists have undergone training both within the State Standards Committee system in problems of certification of production, accreditation of testing laboratories, certification of quality systems, as well as within the system of Gosgortekhnadzor [State Committee on the Supervision of Industrial Work Safety and Mines] on prevailing norms and safety rules. In its activities, NASTKhOL Certification Center is guided by prevailing laws, documents of the "GOST R certification system" and the "NASTKhOL Certification Center certification system" developed in conjunction with it, and also prevailing standards, norms, and rules of other normative documentation.