SFDA Certificate of Conformity for Cosmetics from the UAE: Inspection, Witnessed Loading and Sealing

For a cosmetics shipment from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, the SFDA Certificate of Conformity (CoC) is where paperwork meets physical cargo. It is issued per shipment, after an SFDA-approved conformity body has reviewed the documents and, for UAE exports, inspected the goods, taken samples, watched them being loaded and sealed the truck or container.

That last part surprises many exporters. The inspection doesn't happen at the Saudi border. It happens here, in the UAE, before the cargo moves. So the warehouse, the forwarder and the loading plan matter as much as the documents. This article walks through the CoC process from a logistics point of view: what the inspector looks for, how to prepare the goods, what it costs and how to avoid having to load twice.

What the SFDA CoC is and why it's needed

Every cosmetic product entering Saudi Arabia must first be notified in GHAD by a Saudi importer. That approval belongs to the product. The CoC belongs to the specific consignment: these batches, these quantities, on this truck. It confirms to SFDA and Saudi Customs that the goods in the shipment are the notified products and meet Saudi technical regulations, mainly GSO 1943 and SFDA's labelling and ingredient rules.

The CoC is requested through FASEH, SFDA's electronic clearance platform, and is issued by one of the conformity assessment bodies SFDA has appointed. These include international inspection companies such as Bureau Veritas, SGS, Intertek, TÜV and QIMA, plus regional bodies. Each body covers specific countries of export. Check that the one you choose currently covers the UAE.

The CoC is one step in the wider SFDA process set out in our complete guide to shipping cosmetics from the UAE to Saudi Arabia.

How the assessment works

The Bureau Veritas datasheet for the SFDA cosmetics programme (Rev 1.9, September 2024) breaks the assessment into four parts:

1. Documentary review: invoices, test reports, ingredient lists, labels and registrations
2. Control testing, if needed: at an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited lab, when the supplied test reports are missing or not acceptable
3. Physical inspection: a check of the label markings against the standard, and identification of the products
4. Conclusion: a Certificate of Conformity, or a Non-Conformity Report (NCR) if something fails

For the physical inspection, the same datasheet lists the following for shipments certified from the UAE:

In other words, the goods must be ready, complete and accessible at a UAE location when the inspector arrives, and they must be loaded under the inspector's supervision.

Documents to prepare before the inspection

Have these ready before you book an inspection date:

• Request for Certificate (RFC) form from the conformity body
• Commercial invoice. A proforma is acceptable to open the file, but the final invoice must show the manufacturer and origin, invoice number and date, product names and the batch number, lot number or production date of each line
• Packing list with units, quantities, packing measure and the Saudi HS code for each line
• Test report from an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory
• Valid GHAD registration number and the SFDA notification number for each product
• Exporter's commercial registration and the manufacturer's industrial registration
• Ingredient list with concentrations
• Label photos from every side
• Certificate of origin
• Quality management system certificate (e.g. GMP / ISO 22716)
• Pesticide certificate where applicable, and a declaration of conformity if the body requires one

The most common delay is batch numbers. If the invoice lists batch A123 and the cartons say A124, the inspector cannot match them, and the file stops.

How to prepare the goods for inspection

From experience handling inspected cargo at our UAE warehouse, these steps save time:

1. Consolidate everything in one place. Goods split across a supplier's store, a free-zone warehouse and your office cannot be inspected or loaded under one witness.
2. Sort by SKU and batch. Group pallets by product and batch, and label each group clearly, so the inspector can match them to the invoice in minutes.
3. Open one carton of each SKU (or have one ready to open) so retail labels can be checked.
4. Set aside samples. Where sampling is required, keep spare units of each SKU and batch so you don't have to break up a sealed retail pack you've promised to a buyer.
5. Check labels yourself first. Arabic text, "Made in [country]" in full, batch, expiry and the Saudi importer's details. See our labelling checklist.
6. Plan the vehicle. Have the truck or container on site, clean and ready, at the booked time. If the inspector has to come back for loading, you pay twice in time and often in fees.
7. Prepare dangerous goods separately. Perfumes and aerosols need DG labels, packaging and paperwork before loading.

Witnessed loading and sealing

Once the documents and goods pass inspection, loading starts in front of the inspector. When loading is complete, the inspector or the forwarder applies a numbered seal to the truck trailer or container. That seal number must be recorded and carried through:

• The CoC file
• The commercial invoice and packing list (if amended)
• The CMR / road consignment note, bill of lading or air waybill
• The Saudi import declaration

If the seal is broken or the number doesn't match when the cargo reaches Al Batha, Dammam or Jeddah, expect a hold and possibly a fresh inspection. That is why one forwarder controlling the cargo from inspection to the Saudi border reduces risk. There are fewer handovers, fewer reloads and fewer chances for a mismatch.

What about LTL (part-load) trucks?

Many cosmetics exporters don't fill a full truck. Groupage is possible, but your goods still need to be inspected and witnessed. Plan LTL shipments with your forwarder so that the inspected portion is loaded and secured as a distinct, identifiable consignment. Confirm the sealing approach with the conformity body in advance.

For how part-load trucks work on this route, see FTL vs LTL road transport from the UAE to Saudi Arabia.

Costs to budget

Conformity body fees vary by provider and by shipment. As a reference, Bureau Veritas's 2024 SFDA cosmetics datasheet lists:

• Recommended fee per certificate: SAR 2,000 per CoC (about USD 533)
• Inspection fee: USD 100 per container
• Testing: charged separately where control testing is needed, depending on the product and lab

Add warehouse handling, loading, the seal and any repacking or relabelling. Repeat shipments of products already assessed are usually simpler and faster. Approved bodies offer facilitation for products whose conformity has already been reviewed.

When things go wrong: the Non-Conformity Report

If the body issues an NCR, the reasons are listed. Typical ones are labelling gaps, test results outside limits, missing documents or products that don't match the GHAD notification. Some issues can be fixed in the UAE, for example by applying compliant Arabic labels in a controlled way, before a re-inspection. Others, such as a banned ingredient or a product not notified under this importer, cannot be solved at the warehouse and need the importer to act in GHAD.

For the other common causes of delays, see 12 reasons cosmetics shipments get held at the Saudi border.

How JW Marine & Freight manages your CoC shipment

• File check before booking: GHAD numbers, invoice, packing list, batch numbers and labels matched line by line
• Conformity body coordination: opening the RFC, chasing document requests, booking the inspection slot
• Inspection-ready warehousing: consolidation, sorting by SKU and batch, sample set-aside and DG segregation for perfumes and aerosols
• Witnessed loading and sealing: done once, done right, with seal numbers recorded on every document
• Direct to Saudi Arabia: FTL/LTL road via Al Ghuwaifat–Al Batha, sea to Dammam or Jeddah, or air, with clearance through our Saudi partner brokers