How would you feel when your exported goods do not clear customs upon arrival at the destination port. Wouldn’t you feel disappointed, or maybe a tinge of regret? Well, here’s some good news!

Countries have recently started to keep a check of the standards of goods, coming into the ports. These are the Certificate of Conformity of various countries. Saudi Arabia is one of the major export markets for India’s rice. According to a recent business-standard article Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), the quality regulators in Saudi Arabia, has made it mandatory from 1st September 2019, for each rice consignment to be accompanied by a CoC, however Indian Rice Exporters have been given time till 31st December 2019 to provide an affidavit that they will submit a CoC for the shipments that are being shipped after 1st September 2019. So, as an exporter or importer, this is something you must know about.

Certificate of Conformity (CoC) is a document issued to the exporter and importers indicating that the shipped products meet the required standards. This document is generally required for the customs clearance of your goods. In layman's terms, this is the passport of your shipped goods.

Many countries initiate specific standards to maintain the quality of goods imported into the market. This is undertaken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their citizens, and some countries insist that before products are exported, they are inspected to maintain standards.

Traditionally, governments used to inspect goods at the entry port. However, this could result in a massive monetary loss for the exporter due to delays, as he would have already paid for freight and goods. Thus this practice started happening before the goods are dispatched.

The Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) certificate is a necessary document to clear customs when exporting to Saudi Arabia. SASO CoC (Saudi Arabia Certificate of Conformity) certifies that the goods have been tested and inspected to meet the needs of the SASO standards. However, goods can be subject to additional inspections as per customs officials need, on the arrival of the item in the Saudi Market. 

Procurement of a SASO certificate is a month-long process or even more. There are several independent agencies that provide you with a SASO CoC. However, you would need the following before you begin the application process: 

1. Signed and stamped commercial invoice on the company's letterhead, duly stamped by the local chamber of commerce
2. Certificate of Origin obtained from the local chamber of commerce, verifying the country of origin of goods you want to export.

Once these things are procured, you will need to send these over to the agency with a SASO CoC. In turn, they will inform what tests and inspections are required for the certification.

What you will need to know if you are regularly exporting to Saudi Arabia is that you can register your products with the SASO CoC providing agency. Expediting the testing process of your products. A possibility lies that one of your two shipments is going for the testing phase. 

In addition to these, you must know that the inspecting agencies must be authorised and recognised in Saudi Arabia. So people do keep a note, no matter how good quality your goods are, if you are not providing the SASO CoC for the same, you can’t export to Saudi Arabia.

Happy Cogo-Freighting

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* The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only. While we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.