Saudi SABER: the procedure and how long it actually takes

A SABER account is opened by the importer holding a Saudi commercial registration, not by the exporter. The Product Certificate of Conformity (PCoC) runs for one year and the Shipment Certificate of Conformity (SCoC) is issued per shipment. Since 1 October 2025, a shipment certificate is required even for items not covered by a technical regulation. (As of 2026.09)

SABER sits ahead of Saudi customs clearance. However complete the paperwork, an import declaration cannot even be filed until the certificate is issued. Yet what Korean companies most often get wrong is not the procedure but the question of whose job it is.

01. The Saudi importer opens the account

The official SABER FAQ defines those required to register as importers and manufacturers holding a Saudi commercial registration, and factories inside Saudi Arabia. The PCoC registration service on the SASO e-services portal likewise lists commercial registration details as the first required document.

The governing instrument, SASO's General Regulation for Conformity Assessment Models, defines the “supplier”, where the manufacturer is outside Saudi Arabia, as the manufacturer's representative in the Kingdom or the importer. In other words, this is not a structure in which a Korean exporter opens an account and runs the certification itself. The applicant is the importer or an agent in Saudi Arabia; the exporter is the party supplying the technical file and test reports.

02. Two certificates

What SABER issues is split between the product level and the shipment level. The figures below are those published on the official SABER service pages.

PCoC, Product Certificate of Conformity: per product. Valid for one year; registration fee SAR 500 (excluding VAT). Assessed by a SASO-approved conformity assessment body (CAB).

SCoC, Shipment Certificate of Conformity: per shipment. Fee SAR 350 (excluding VAT). The official SABER page states a validity of 60 days.

SDoC, Self-Declaration of Conformity: for products not covered by a technical regulation. Free and issued immediately when the importer applies.

The order is product registration, then a PCoC if the product is regulated or an SDoC if it is not, then an SCoC for each shipment. A shipment certificate request is routed automatically to the conformity assessment body that issued the PCoC.

03. The HS code decides whether the product is regulated

The HS code entered when registering a product in SABER determines whether that product falls under a technical regulation and which certificate it needs. The official SABER user guide explains that the product registration screen displays whether the product is regulated and which certificate type applies.

As retrieved in September 2026, SABER lists 61 technical regulations. They include low-voltage electrical equipment, telecommunications and IT equipment, textiles, batteries, food safety of kitchenware, lifts, personal protective equipment, standby and off-mode power consumption, and general energy efficiency. Some Korean-language material puts the number of technical regulations at 45, which differs from the figure currently published, so decisions about a specific product should be checked on the platform itself.

The practical burden differs sharply between regulated and unregulated products. A regulated product must go through assessment by a SASO-approved conformity assessment body and submit a technical file and test reports, and assessment costs are charged on top of the SAR 500 platform fee. An unregulated product is covered by the importer's self-declaration. As of September 2026, 117 conformity assessment bodies are registered in SABER, searchable by regional scope and by technical regulation.

04. Since 1 October 2025 every product needs a shipment certificate

According to the SASO announcement reported by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on 26 August 2025, from 1 October 2025 a shipment certificate became a mandatory precondition to the import declaration for all imports. The scope does not distinguish between regulated and unregulated products.

So the reasoning “our product is not regulated, so we can skip SABER” no longer holds. An unregulated product must still be registered in SABER, receive a self-declaration of conformity, and then obtain a shipment certificate for each consignment.

05. Lead times, and what the published figures leave out

Official processing times differ between two sources.

SABER platform (saber.sa): PCoC registration 5–6 working days, SCoC for imports 5 working days, SCoC for commercial products 1–2 working days, importer SDoC immediate

SASO e-services portal (saso.gov.sa): the same PCoC registration service 8 working days, commercial shipment certificate 3 working days, non-consumer-goods shipment conformity certificate 2 working days

Two official pages of the same government system publish different figures. When scheduling, it is safer to plan against the wider of the two. The published range is 5–8 working days for a PCoC and 1–5 working days for an SCoC.

What matters more is what those figures do not include. The published processing times are the administrative handling time of the platform and the authority; testing time and the conformity assessment body's review of the technical file are separate. We found no SASO-designated conformity assessment body that publishes a total number of days including testing. Figures circulating in the market such as “two to four weeks” are generally unsourced marketing copy.

One more thing: data cannot be amended after payment. An incorrect invoice value or quantity means starting the application again.

06. What SABER is not

Food, medicines, medical devices, cosmetics and animal feed fall to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), not SABER. Applications go through GHAD, the SFDA's integrated electronic system, and consignment release goes through the FASEH and FASAH platforms.

Kitchenware and cooking utensils that come into contact with food, by contrast, sit with SASO and go through SABER. “Food safety of kitchenware” appears in the SABER list of technical regulations, and the USDA FAS Saudi Arabia report likewise describes SASO as responsible for non-food standards, including products that come into contact with food.

This boundary is where Korean companies most often go wrong. Food companies prepare for SABER, and kitchenware companies approach the SFDA.

In summary

SABER is a process that runs in the Saudi importer's account; it splits into the product-level PCoC and the shipment-level SCoC; and since October 2025 even unregulated items require a shipment certificate. What the exporter can prepare is an accurate HS code, a valid accredited laboratory report, and an Arabic label and instructions for use. With those three in place, most of the delay disappears.