The Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia has announced updated regulations regarding Certificate of Conformity (CofC) for imported products and testing of random samples for verification.
According to the announcement, random samples shall be taken from consignments coming with Certificate of Conformity from authorised bodies for verification and shipments will be directly released.
However, for the shipments arriving without a Certificate of Conformity, samples will be taken at ports and will be referred to local laboratories for testing.
The shipments will not be released until the products have been found to be compliant with the requirements.
Products that are found to be not in conformity with requirements will be rejected.
The announcement also provided information about products which are exempt from the requirements of Certificate of Conformity and therefore are not subject to sampling for referral to testing laboratories.
Such products include: original auto spare parts, original computer accessories and other items exempted by the Ministry of Commerce Industry; consignments for personal use in small quantities that will not be sold in market; products bearing SASO quality mark; consignments imported under contracts with government entities, registered companies or licensed factories intended for those entities exclusive use and not for sale; and used cars, which shall be referred to SASO.
