A second ministry, not a second certificate body
The declaration is approved by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. It sits outside SASO entirely — a conformity body cannot issue it, waive it or argue with it.
MIM Product Declaration
A second approval, in front of your shipment certificate
For a growing list of steel and metal products, a conformity body will not approve a SABER shipment certificate until the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has approved a product declaration and it sits in the technical file. It is quick to obtain, it expires in weeks, and it is usually discovered far too late.
The Short Version
What the declaration is
Six facts that decide whether this affects you and when you should act on it.
It gates the shipment certificate
Conformity bodies have been instructed not to approve a shipment certificate for a listed product unless an approved declaration is in the technical file. Without it the consignment has no document at the port.
Driven by HS code, from a published list
Affected goods are named by HS code in SASO circulars. Your classification decides whether the requirement applies, which makes the code the first thing to settle rather than the last.
It expires quickly
An approved declaration carries a short validity — around sixty days from issue. That is shorter than many production and sailing cycles, so it has to be timed against the shipment rather than obtained early and forgotten.
Mostly metals, and the list keeps growing
Iron, steel, stainless steel and ferro-alloy products have carried most of the scope through 2026, added to in stages. A product outside the list today is not necessarily outside it next quarter.
Filed from the Saudi side
The declaration is submitted and approved against a Saudi party. An overseas mill or trader supplies the evidence; the importer carries the application, and their responsiveness sets your schedule.
Two Approvals
Different ministry, different document
Exporters routinely assume the conformity body can resolve this. It cannot — the two columns below are administered by different parts of the Saudi state.
The MIM product declaration
- Approved by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources
- Concerns the product and its industrial particulars
- Required only for products named in the circulars
- Valid for a short window, measured in weeks
- Attached to the technical file as a prerequisite
- No declaration, no shipment certificate — there is no workaround
The SABER certificates
- Issued by a SASO-approved conformity assessment body
- Concern conformity with the technical regulation
- Product certificate covers the model for a year
- Shipment certificate covers one consignment
- Raised under the Saudi importer’s SABER account
- The shipment certificate is what customs actually reads
The Route
Five steps, and the last one is about timing
The work itself is not difficult. Getting it in the right order, against the right sailing date, is where consignments are won and lost.
Check the code against the list
Take the Saudi HS code for the goods as they will be declared and check it against the current circulars. Being close to a listed product is not the test; the code either appears or it does not.
Assemble the product particulars
Specification, grade, dimensions, standard, manufacturer and origin, consistent with what the mill certificate and the commercial documents say. Inconsistency between them is the usual reason an application comes back.
File the declaration
The Saudi importer submits to the ministry against the specific product and consignment particulars. This is a separate submission from anything on SABER, with its own queue.
Attach it to the technical file
Once approved, the declaration goes into the file the conformity body assesses. This is the step that is most often missed — an approval that exists but was never uploaded blocks the certificate exactly as a missing one does.
Raise the shipment certificate inside the window
With the declaration live, the shipment certificate can be issued. Sequence this against sailing so the approval does not lapse between issue and arrival.
The File
What the application has to show
Eight particulars, and they must agree with the mill certificate, the invoice and the customs declaration. Disagreement between them is the usual reason an application comes back.
- Saudi HS code for each line, as it will appear on the customs declaration
- Mill test certificate or manufacturer specification for the material
- Grade, dimensions and the standard the product is made to
- Manufacturer name and the producing plant, not only the trading company
- Country of origin consistent with the certificate of origin
- Commercial invoice and packing list for the consignment
- The existing SABER product certificate for the goods
- Quantities as they will actually ship, within the declared tolerance
In Scope
Which products are caught
Scope follows HS code, not product concept. These are the families carrying most of it, and the list has grown more than once this year.
Flat-rolled steel
Sheet, coil and plate across a range of thicknesses. The family where the requirement first appeared, and where the thickness bands in the circulars matter as much as the material.
Long products and sections
Bars, rods, angles and structural sections, usually reaching Saudi Arabia under the building materials regulation alongside their conformity requirements.
Stainless steel
Stainless flat and long products in their own right, with grade and finish among the particulars the declaration is assessed on.
Ferro-alloys
Alloying feedstock, added to the scope during the 2026 expansions. Traders moving mixed alloy cargo are the most frequently caught by this one.
Pipes, tubes and fittings
Where steel goods cross into the pipeline and construction supply chains, the declaration question follows the code rather than the end use.
Mixed metal consignments
One container, several codes, and only some of them listed. The consignment moves at the pace of its slowest line, so split the file before you split the shipment.
Worked Example
Six codes, four listed
A Turkish steel trader shipping mixed flat product to a Riyadh distributor, six codes on one container, first shipment since the requirement expanded.
Codes checked
Four of the six codes were on the current list. The other two were not, which meant one container carrying two different document paths.
Particulars reconciled
The mill certificates named grades and thicknesses that did not match the proforma invoice on two lines. Fixed at source before anything was filed.
Timed to the vessel
The declaration was filed to be approved close to loading rather than at order confirmation, leaving the validity window covering the whole voyage.
Filed into the technical file
The approval was uploaded against the product certificate the same day, so the conformity body had a complete file when the shipment certificate was requested.
Shipped
Shipment certificate issued without query, and the two unlisted lines moved on the normal route in the same container.
Avoid These
Where the declaration costs money
Six failures, and the first two are about timing rather than paperwork.
Declaration obtained too early
Approved eight weeks before sailing, expired before the shipment certificate is raised. The application has to be timed against the vessel, not against the purchase order.
Discovered at the shipment certificate
The first anyone hears of it is the conformity body refusing to issue. By then the goods are produced, the container is booked, and the ministry queue is in front of you.
Classified just outside the list
A code chosen for duty reasons that does not match the goods. If the correct code is listed, the requirement applies regardless of what was declared, and the correction happens at the worst moment.
Approved but never uploaded
The declaration exists in someone’s inbox and not in the technical file. The conformity body assesses what it can see, so an unattached approval is no approval at all.
Particulars drift from the shipment
Grade substituted, thickness changed, a second mill used to make up quantity. The declaration describes one product and the container holds another.
Assumed to be a one-time approval
Treated like a product certificate and reused across consignments. It is tied to particulars and a short validity, so a repeat shipper needs a rhythm for it, not a filing cabinet.
Keep Going
Related pages
The certificate this gates, the regulation the goods sit under, and the check that catches it early.
FAQs
MIM declaration questions
Scope, validity and who files it. The shipment certificate itself is answered on its own page.
What is the MIM product declaration?
It is an approval from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources required for certain imported products, mostly iron, steel, stainless steel and ferro-alloy goods. Once a product is on the list, a conformity assessment body will not approve a SABER shipment certificate for it unless the approved declaration is in the technical file.
Is MIM the same thing as SABER?
No. SABER is SASO’s conformity platform. The MIM declaration is a separate approval from a different ministry that acts as a precondition to the shipment certificate. You need both, obtained in the right order, and neither substitutes for the other.
How do I know if my product needs one?
By HS code, against the lists published in the SASO circulars. The scope has been expanded more than once during 2026, so a check made earlier in the year is not proof of the position now. If the code you will actually declare appears on the current list, the requirement applies.
How long is the declaration valid?
A short window — in the region of sixty days from issue. That is the single most important operational fact about it, because it is shorter than many production-to-sailing cycles. Obtaining it too early is as much of a problem as obtaining it too late.
Who applies for it, the exporter or the importer?
It is filed from the Saudi side, against the importer. The exporter or mill supplies the substance — specification, grade, mill certificate, origin — but the application and the approval sit with the Saudi party, so their responsiveness is part of your critical path.
Can a conformity body issue the shipment certificate without it?
Not for a listed product. Conformity bodies have been instructed that shipment certificates are not to be approved unless the declaration has been approved and attached. Asking a conformity body to proceed anyway puts them in breach of their own instructions, and they will decline.
Does the declaration replace the product certificate?
No. The product certificate still has to exist and be live, and the shipment certificate is still what customs reads. The declaration is an additional gate in front of the shipment certificate, not a replacement for anything already in the chain.
What if only some lines in my container are listed?
Then those lines carry the requirement and the others do not. The practical problem is that a container moves as one consignment, so the listed lines set the pace. Where the volumes justify it, splitting the shipment is sometimes cheaper than holding the unlisted goods behind an approval they never needed.
What happens if the declaration expires before the goods arrive?
The shipment certificate cannot be raised against a lapsed approval, so a new application is needed. If the goods are already in transit, that is a detention problem rather than a paperwork problem, which is why the timing of the application matters more than its difficulty.
Is the list of affected products still changing?
It has been expanded repeatedly through 2026, and the additions have run along HS code families rather than product concepts. Repeat shippers of metal goods should be re-checking their codes each quarter rather than relying on a position established when they first certified.
Find out if your codes are on the list before you load
Send the HS codes you will declare, the mill certificate and your sailing date. We tell you which lines are caught, when the declaration should be filed so it is still live on arrival, and what your importer needs in front of them.