Three quotations for SASO certification will come back with three different prices, three different scopes and at least one claim that is not true. This page explains what a consultant can actually do, what only a SASO-approved body can do, and the ten questions that separate the two in about five minutes.
Before you compare prices:
Saudi conformity certification is deliberately built so that the party preparing a file is not the party judging it. Certificates are issued only by conformity assessment bodies holding SASO approval for the particular technical regulation, and that impartiality is the reason the certificate means anything at the border.
Which makes the phrase “SASO approved consultant” a contradiction, and a useful one — it tells you immediately what kind of proposal you are reading. A consultant is worth appointing for a different reason: the work of getting your file to the standard an approved body can certify quickly sits across four parties in two countries, and nobody is going to assemble it for you.
If a quotation claims anything from the right-hand column, stop reading it and ask which approved body is behind the claim.
This is what a fee covers. A quotation that does not account for all eight has either scoped them out or not thought about them yet.
Establishing what your tariff code actually triggers — regulated or not, under which technical regulation, and whether SFDA or a sector ministry has a claim instead. Everything downstream is priced off this answer, which is why it comes first rather than last.
Mapping the standards the regulation cites onto laboratories accredited for those exact scopes, then sequencing the sample despatch so one failed test does not idle the whole programme.
Drawings, bill of materials, ratings, critical component lists, user documentation and the model matrix, put together in the form a reviewer expects rather than the form your engineering folder happens to be in.
Arabic content, mandatory data elements, origin marking, energy labels and G-Mark checked against the regulation before the packaging goes to press — the single cheapest review in the whole engagement.
Confirming your Saudi importer holds a live Commercial Registration and a working account, and that the certificate will be raised in the name that appears on the bill of lading.
Submitting the application, answering the reviewer queries, closing findings and keeping the file moving. Most delays are not decisions — they are unanswered questions sitting in somebody’s inbox.
Tracking expiry dates, adding models before they ship rather than after, and amending scope when production moves to a second unit. This is the work that prevents next year’s emergency.
Raising the per-consignment certificate against each invoice and packing list, in time to be quoted on the declaration rather than chased once the vessel has berthed.
All six are in circulation in the Indian market right now, and all six are checkable in under a minute.
SASO approves conformity assessment bodies to issue certificates against named regulations. It does not approve consultants. Anyone claiming that status is describing something that does not exist.
A certificate is an attestation supported by evidence. An offer that skips the evidence is either selling a document that will not survive verification, or has not understood what was asked.
The code decides the regulation, the regulation decides the testing, and the testing is most of the cost. A firm number quoted before that is a number that will be revised.
A Saudi certificate is held by the importer of record. A consultant who proposes to hold it, or to supply an importer of their own without telling you who it is, is creating a dependency you cannot unwind.
Ask what is included, what is quoted separately, and what happens if a test fails. A consultant who will not put the boundary in writing has a reason for keeping it vague.
Every genuine certificate can be found under its own number, against an approved issuing body, with a scope you can read. If it cannot be checked, it is not a certificate.
Ask all ten of whoever you are considering, including us. The answers tell you more than any brochure, and a specialist answers them without hesitating.
Match the shape to the shipping pattern. A one-off certificate bought by a company that ships monthly becomes an annual emergency.
One product family, one regulation, one certificate.
The right shape for a first Saudi order or a one-off tender. Scoped, quoted and closed. Renewal is handled as a fresh engagement when the year comes round.
A range of products across several regulations.
Products grouped by regulation so evidence is shared where it legitimately can be, testing is sequenced rather than duplicated, and the certificates come due on a calendar you can plan around.
Ongoing shipping, with certificates that must not lapse.
Shipment certificates raised in rhythm with your despatches, scope amended as models change, renewals started before expiry, and a single point of contact who already knows the file.
You want the answer, not the engagement.
A written determination of what your code triggers, with no obligation to proceed. Useful before a tender, and a fair way to test whether a consultant knows the subject.
Not a patriotic argument. The evidence a Saudi file runs on is produced here, and coordination is cheaper where the deadline lives.
The regulator, the technical file, and the wider India to Saudi lane.
Scope, cost, who issues what, and how to compare two proposals honestly.
Everything except issue the certificate. That means confirming the HS code and the technical regulation, planning testing at laboratories accredited for the right scope, assembling the technical file, reviewing Arabic artwork before print, coordinating your Saudi importer, filing the application and closing the reviewer queries, then managing renewals and per-shipment certificates afterwards.
No. Certificates are issued only by conformity assessment bodies holding SASO approval for the specific technical regulation. A consultant who claims to issue one, or who describes themselves as SASO approved, is describing something that does not exist. What a good consultant does is make your file the kind an approved body can certify quickly.
The certificate fee is rarely the largest line. Cost is driven by whether accredited test reports already exist, how many models the scope has to carry, whether the regulation requires a factory audit, and how much artwork rework is needed. Any firm price quoted before your HS code has been confirmed is a placeholder, because the code decides the regulation and the regulation decides the testing.
Ask which regulation applies to your code and how they established it, which conformity body will issue and whether it is approved for that regulation, which laboratory will test and whether its accreditation covers the exact standard, and what happens if a test fails. A consultant who answers those four precisely is doing the work. One who answers them with a price is not.
You can go direct, and some manufacturers with in-house compliance teams do. The case for a consultant is the coordination: testing, artwork, the importer account, the technical file and the filing sit with four different parties in two countries, and an approved body will assess what you send rather than help you assemble it.
They are two names for parts of one requirement. SASO is the regulator that writes the technical regulations; SABER is the platform through which certificates are requested and issued. If you are being quoted separately for SASO certification and SABER registration as though they were two jobs, ask what the second fee is actually buying.
Yes, and it is a common arrangement — your buyer handles the Saudi side while you need the India side managed. What matters is that both sides agree on the HS code, the model list and the importer name early, because those three are where duplicated effort turns into contradictory paperwork.
The regulation being certified against, the models covered, which laboratory and which tests, whether a factory audit is included, in whose name the certificate will be raised, what is billed separately, the expected timeline with its dependencies, and what happens commercially if a test fails. Anything not in that document will be argued about later.
Food, cosmetics, supplements and medical devices route to SFDA rather than through SABER, and that is a different process with different registrations. We handle it through our SFDA desk. Where a range spans both regulators, the two files run in parallel and the shipment planning has to account for both.
We are based in Mumbai and work with exporters across India. Most of the file is document-led and runs remotely. What genuinely needs presence is sample despatch and, where the regulation calls for it, the factory audit — which is conducted at the site that will actually produce the goods, by the body performing the assessment.
Send the product and the HS code you are using. You will get the regulation named, the testing identified and the scope written down — so whatever you compare us against, you are comparing like with like.