PCoC — Product Certificate
Covers the registered product or model, and is usually valid for the applicable certification period. Issued by a SASO-approved certification body.
Saudi Product Certification
SASO Certification for Saudi Arabia
We help manufacturers and exporters identify, prepare and complete the required Saudi product certification.
To check your requirement, send us:
- Product name
- Product photo
- HS code, if available
- Country of origin
- Existing test report, if any
We will confirm:
- Certificate required
- Testing requirement
- Documents required
- Cost
- Processing time
Start Here
Do I need this certificate?
If you are exporting regulated products to Saudi Arabia, your product may require SABER registration, a PCoC, an SCoC or another Saudi approval.
What decides it is the HS code, not the product name. Two products that look identical on a shelf can sit in different regulations — so the code is the first thing we check, and it is checked before anything is quoted.
The Certificates
Which certificate do I need?
Most exporters need the first two. The third is what we check for, so nothing surfaces late.
SCoC — Shipment Certificate
Required for each applicable shipment, raised against a live product certificate and quoted at customs clearance.
Other approvals
Some products may also require IECEE, G-Mark, the Saudi Quality Mark, an energy efficiency label or SFDA approval. We confirm which apply before you spend anything.
The Process
Four steps, start to shipment
The same sequence every time, whatever the product.
Check product & HS code
We identify the applicable Saudi requirement for your product and tariff line.
Prepare documents & testing
We review your documents and advise if lab testing is required.
Apply for PCoC
The application is submitted and reviewed by the applicable certification body.
Apply for SCoC
Shipment documents are submitted for shipment certification before the goods sail.
Documents
What we need from each side
Two lists, and the importer's side is shorter than most exporters expect.
From the exporter / manufacturer
- Product details and datasheet
- Model list to be covered
- Product photos
- Test report, if you already hold one
- Manufacturer details
- Declaration and supporting documents
From the Saudi importer
- SABER account access or request
- Importer CR details
- OTP coordination
- SADAD payment where applicable
Lab Testing
Already have a test report?
Send it to us first. We will check whether it can be used before recommending any new testing.
If testing is required, we will confirm the applicable standard and the test parameters, and the work is done at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.
Most manufacturers arrive holding more usable evidence than they think, and a report that can be reused takes weeks out of the schedule.
Cost & Time
What the price and the timeline turn on
No two products cost the same, so here is what moves the number rather than a figure that would not apply to you.
Cost depends on
- Product type
- HS code
- Number of models
- Testing requirement
- Applicable regulation
Processing time depends on
- Documents available
- Test report availability
- Certification-body review
Our Role
What BenzilaCert handles for you
So the job is one conversation with us, not nine separate ones with laboratories, bodies and your importer.
- HS code and regulation check
- SABER registration
- PCoC application
- SCoC application
- Lab test coordination
- Label review
- Factory inspection coordination
- Technical documents
- Importer coordination
Common Cases
Problems we solve every week
If one of these is where you are, it is routine work — not a dead end.
You do not know the correct HS code
Send the product and a photo. We confirm the tariff line to Saudi depth and tell you which regulation it lands in.
No test report available
We confirm which tests the regulation actually needs and arrange them at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.
Multiple models to cover
We group models into families where the regulation permits it, so you are not paying for one certificate per variant.
Your importer does not know the SABER process
We work directly with your Saudi importer on the account, the OTP and the SADAD payment.
The certificate is needed urgently
We tell you the shortest honest route, what can run in parallel, and what genuinely cannot be compressed.
Application rejected or stuck
We read the rejection, find what the reviewer actually objected to, and rebuild the file around it.
Unsure whether PCoC or another approval applies
Some products need more than SABER, and some need less than an agent has told you. The assessment settles it in writing.
FAQs
SASO certification questions
Do I need SASO certification for my product?
If your product falls under a Saudi technical regulation, yes — the consignment cannot be cleared without it. Products with no technical regulation still need a shipment certificate on SABER, raised on a self-declaration basis. Send the product name and HS code and we will confirm which case you are in.
What is a PCoC?
The Product Certificate of Conformity. It covers the registered product or model against the applicable Saudi technical regulation, and is issued by a SASO-approved certification body under your Saudi importer’s SABER account. It is usually valid for the applicable certification period, after which it is renewed.
What is an SCoC?
The Shipment Certificate of Conformity. It is raised for each applicable shipment against a live product certificate, and it is the document quoted at customs clearance. A valid PCoC on its own does not clear a container.
Is a lab test report mandatory?
Not always, and not always a new one. Send any report you already hold — we check whether its scope, laboratory accreditation and standard edition let it be used before recommending any new testing. Where testing is required, we confirm the applicable standard and test parameters first.
How long does SASO certification take?
With a complete and current technical file, the product certificate is typically issued in about three to ten working days. If new laboratory testing is needed, add roughly one to three weeks depending on the product and the standard.
Can multiple models be covered on one certificate?
Often yes. Where the regulation allows it, models that share a technical platform can be grouped into one family on a single certificate. The model list has to be settled before the application, because adding a variant afterwards means a new application.
Can you coordinate directly with our Saudi importer?
Yes, and it is usually the fastest way. Certificates are raised under the importer’s SABER account, which is tied to their Commercial Registration, so we work with them on the account access, the OTP and the SADAD payment while you handle the technical evidence.
In Detail
SASO is the regulator, not the paperwork
Everything below is the detail behind the answers above — useful when you need to check a position rather than start one.
The Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization is the kingdom’s national standards body. It publishes the technical regulations that decide what a product must achieve before it may be sold in Saudi Arabia, and it approves the conformity assessment bodies permitted to certify against them.
So “SASO certification” is not a single document you buy. It is the outcome of a chain: your HS code points at a technical regulation, that regulation cites SASO standards, those standards dictate the testing and marking, and a SASO-approved body issues the certificate once the evidence holds. Every expensive mistake we are called in to fix happens at the first link, not the last.
Remit
What SASO actually controls
Six levers, and your product meets most of them before it ever reaches a port.
Writes the standards
SASO publishes the technical regulations and SASO standards that define what a product must achieve — safety, performance, energy efficiency, marking and labelling.
Approves the assessors
A conformity assessment body cannot certify for Saudi Arabia unless SASO has approved it for that specific technical regulation. Scope is granted per regulation, not per company.
Runs the platform
SABER is SASO’s conformity platform. Every product and shipment certificate for a regulated good is raised, paid for and stored there.
Owns the marks
The Gulf Conformity Mark (G-Mark), the SASO Quality Mark and the Saudi energy efficiency label are all SASO instruments, each with its own rules of use.
Polices the market
Certification is not the end of it. SASO samples goods already on shelves, and a failure there reaches back to the certificate and the importer who holds it.
Recognises foreign evidence
Where a technical regulation allows it, IECEE CB reports and other accredited results are accepted in place of repeat testing — narrowing cost, not the requirement.
Every Instrument
What SASO certification looks like today
The two certificates above in their full context — plus the marks that sit alongside them, and the one document you should refuse to buy.
SABER Product Certificate (PCoC)
The modern form of SASO certification for a regulated product. Issued by a SASO-approved body against the technical regulation your HS code falls under, valid one year, tied to one Saudi importer.
SABER Shipment Certificate (SCoC)
Raised per consignment against a live PCoC and quoted at customs clearance. Without it the container does not leave the port, however good the product is.
G-Mark (Gulf Conformity Mark)
A GCC-wide mark applied to low-voltage equipment and toys. It is a marking obligation with its own technical file — it does not replace the SABER certificates.
SASO Quality Mark
A separate, factory-audited scheme for selected product families. Slower to obtain and rarely the fastest route to a first shipment — we advise on it only where it genuinely applies.
Energy efficiency registration
Air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, lighting and similar goods carry a Saudi energy label with its own SASO test evidence, settled before the PCoC completes.
Legacy SASO CoC
The pre-2019 certificate of conformity issued under the old ICCP programme. It is retired. If an agent offers you one today, the goods will still be stopped.
Scope
Regulated product families
Scope follows the tariff line, not the product name. These are the families we assess most — but the code decides, and near-identical products can sit in different regulations.
Low-voltage electrical equipment
Appliances, power tools, chargers, luminaires, cable and switchgear — the largest regulated family, carrying both safety and EMC evidence.
Construction products
Cement, steel reinforcement, cladding, insulation, sanitary ware, pipes and fittings, each against its own standard and marking rule.
Machinery and equipment
Industrial machines, pumps, compressors and pressure equipment — scope follows the exact tariff line far more than the product name.
Toys and childcare articles
Mechanical, chemical and flammability requirements plus G-Mark, age marking and Arabic warnings on the retail pack.
Chemicals and detergents
GHS classification, safety data sheets and Arabic hazard labelling. Some formulations sit with SFDA instead — confirmed at assessment, never assumed.
Personal protective equipment
Helmets, gloves, footwear, eye and respiratory protection, tested to the standard the regulation names rather than a European equivalent.
Automotive parts and tyres
Tyres, batteries, filters, lubricants, brake components and accessories, several carrying their own dedicated Saudi regulations.
Textiles and consumer goods
Fibre composition, care labelling, azo dye restrictions, furniture, cookware and household articles.
The Full Route
Product → regulation → certificate
The four steps above, expanded. Skipping the first two is how exporters end up holding a certificate that does not describe the goods in the container.
Classify
The Saudi HS code is confirmed to tariff depth. This is what decides whether SASO owns the product at all, and which technical regulation applies.
Find the regulation
The technical regulation and the SASO standards it cites are named in writing, with the edition in force — editions move, and old reports fail on that alone.
Audit the evidence
Existing test reports are checked for laboratory accreditation scope, standard edition and validity. What already passes is reused; only the gap is quoted.
Close the gap
Missing tests are run at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, and a factory audit is arranged where the regulation’s certification scheme requires one.
Fix the markings
Labels, rating plates, Arabic text, energy cards and the G-Mark are corrected before print, not after a rejected consignment.
Certify on SABER
A SASO-approved body issues the Product Certificate against the technical file, under your Saudi importer’s account.
Ship and clear
A Shipment Certificate is raised per consignment and reconciled against the invoice so customs finds no disagreement.
Evidence
What the approved body reviews
Not all of it applies to every product. The assessment says which lines are live for your regulation — and which you can stop chasing.
- Confirmed Saudi HS code, to full tariff depth
- Product datasheet, catalogue and the exact model list to be certified
- Test reports from an ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory accredited for that scope
- IECEE CB certificate and report, where the CB route is accepted
- ISO 9001 certificate or the factory’s quality manual, where the scheme requires it
- Rating plate, retail label and packaging artwork, including Arabic text
- Energy efficiency test data and label artwork for regulated appliances
- Manufacturer declaration, trademark evidence and country of origin
What disqualifies a test report is rarely the result. It is scope: a laboratory accredited for one standard signing another, an edition that has since moved, or a model number on the report that does not appear on the invoice.
If You Hold CE
CE marking vs SASO certification
A European file is a strong starting position and a poor finishing one. Here is the honest split.
What a CE file already gives you
- Accredited laboratory testing that is often reusable in scope
- A technical construction file in the structure SASO expects
- EMC and safety results that frequently map onto the SASO standard
- A manufacturer’s declaration and traceable model identification
What SASO still requires on top
- Certification by a body SASO has approved for that regulation
- Testing to the SASO standard edition, not the EN equivalent
- Arabic labelling, Saudi energy cards and G-Mark where applicable
- A certificate raised on SABER under a Saudi importer’s account
Avoid These
Six ways SASO files go wrong
Every rescue case we take on began as one of these — and all six are cheap to prevent, expensive to unwind.
Treating CE as sufficient
A CE declaration is self-issued and carries no Saudi legal effect. The test data behind it is useful; the marking itself buys you nothing at Jeddah.
Buying a legacy SASO CoC
The old ICCP certificate has not been valid since the SABER transition. Agents still sell them, and customs still rejects them.
Testing to a superseded edition
A report against last edition’s standard is refused at technical review even where the product itself would pass today’s test.
Using an out-of-scope laboratory
Accreditation is scope-specific. A laboratory accredited for electrical safety cannot sign your EMC report into a SASO file.
Leaving Arabic to the importer
Arabic labelling is a product requirement, not a customs formality. Added after production it means relabelling a whole consignment in a bonded warehouse.
Certifying against the wrong importer
A PCoC is tied to one Saudi importer. Change distributor and the certificate does not travel with the product — it is raised again from scratch.
Worked Example
One product, first Saudi shipment
An Indian manufacturer of industrial LED high-bay luminaires, already selling into Europe, opening Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Classification
Proposed 9405.40 confirmed to Saudi tariff depth, placing the product inside the low-voltage electrical technical regulation with an energy-efficiency overlay.
Evidence audit
The existing CB report covered safety in scope and was accepted. The EMC report was against a superseded edition, and photometric data was missing entirely.
Gap testing
Two tests quoted rather than a full retest — current-edition EMC, plus photometric and efficacy data for the Saudi energy requirement.
Markings
Rating plate redrawn with the Arabic origin strip and the energy label, and the artwork proofed before the print run rather than after it.
Certification
PCoC issued against the model family under the importer’s SABER account, with the first SCoC raised the same week the container loaded.
Keep Going
Related pages
This page covers the regulator. These cover the platform, the paperwork and the products SASO does not own.
Not sure what certificate your product needs?
Send your product name, photo and HS code. Our team will check the requirement and tell you the next steps.