Russian GOST 7396 Plugs and Sockets

Morvan Trading moulded mains cables for Russia and other post-Soviet states are approved to GOST and/or EAC, with standards documents and approval certificates available on request (please note volt ‘V’ is denoted as ‘B’ in Cyrillic).

Also, Russian 6A sockets will only accept the smaller 4mm diameter pins, and GOST allows for 16A rated plugs with 4mm pins so please check the end application if in doubt; a standard European hybrid or Schuko plug will not fit.

We stock a rewireable plug with 4mm pins for this eventuality.

Soviet quality control was historically variable, but this issue has now largely been resolved.

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Russian-standard plugs and sockets are used in Russia, along with the other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; Turkmenistan is an associate CIS member, and previous members include Georgia and Ukraine.

Most republics from the Former Soviet Union including the disputed states use this Russian mains plug type, but a notable exception are the Baltic states who use European standard plugs.

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The Russian GOST 7396 is a Soviet Gosstandart that was carried over to become a Russian standard after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Of most interest is GOST7396 group C, which covers ex Soviet plugs used both domestically and in Europe. Russian GOST 7396 Group C 1 has unearthed plugs with 4mm diameter pins rated at 6A and 4.8mm diameter pins rated at 16A. Group C 2 and C 3 cover German CEE7/4 and French CEE7/6 respectively.

C 5 includes the CEE7/17 Europlug, but is also for a 6A version with straight uninsulated pins; likewise C 6 covers the CEE7/7 hybrid, but also includes a version with 4mm rather than 4.8mm diameter pins.

Group A covers North American type plugs designed for export, e.g. A1-15 for 2 pin 125V 15A, or A5-15 for 3 pin 125V 15A etc. Also for export, GOST Group B 1 covers the BS546 plugs used in Southern Africa and the Indian subcontinent, and GOST Group B 2 the standard UK plug.

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GOST (ГОСТ) is short for государственный стандарт (gosudarstvennyy standart) or state standard, and is currently maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization Metrology and Certification or EASC. In the Soviet era, republics had their own bodies, e.g. GOST-R for Russia or GOST-K for Kazakhstan, but the government agency Gosstandart is now named Rosstandart. The Soviet State Quality Mark was a horizontal K in a pentagon with the letters CCCP, and in the 1990s became a stylised PCT.

The GOST mark is being replaced by the new EurAsian Conformity mark (Евразийское соответствие) in the Eurasian Customs Union (EACU or CU) countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia; it entered use in 2013 under TR CU 004/2011 ‘On the safety of low voltage equipment’.

The graphic representation of the mark is ‘EAC’ in stylised rectangular letters, all three making a square, and when used it must be larger than 5mm and on a contrasting background colour.

Rostest is the most well known Russian inspection and test house, but any certified body can carry out the approvals process.

BELST is the State Committee for Standardisation of the Republic of Belarus

Contact our friendly technical team for more information call us on 01264 353489 or click here to contact us