.  /  .RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/ACC/SAU/36
5 August 1998
(98-3084)
Working Party on the
Accession of Saudi ArabiaOriginal:  English
ACCESSION OF THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
International Conformity Certification Program
The following information concerning the Intern ational Conformity Certification Program has
been received from the Ministry of Comm erce of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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Important Announcement
26 July 1998
In the interest of safeguarding the health and safety of the consumer through the application of
Saudi and international standards to goods and pr oducts imported into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
and
in view of the favourable results achieved by  the International Conformity Certification
Program (ICCP), according to which 66 regulated pr oduct categories are subject to inspection and/or
testing and issuance of Certification of Conformity for consignments prior to  their shipment to the
Kingdom;  and
in response to constructive comments raised by some of the Kingdom's trading partners, the
Saudi Chambers of Commerce, the manufacturers and importers of such products in relation to the
methods and procedures of implementation of the ICCP,
the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and the Saudi  Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) are
pleased to announce the continued implementation of  the ICCP with the introduction of several
improvements which provide additional flexibility and simplification in the rules and procedures of the
program as follows:
1. Assignment of four Program Management Companies in addition to the current Program
Manager whereby each will be responsible for the execution of the Program for goods imported
from specific geographic regions.  These Program Managers are:
Program Manager Region
Intertek Testing Services International Ltd. Nort h and South America, Mi ddle East and any other
countries not falling within the regional scope of the
other Program Managers.
Swede Control Ltd. Europe and Africa
Iten Engineering Private Ltd. India,  Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Singapore
Labtest Hong Kong Ltd. China (including Hong Kong), Indonesia and the
Philippines
Inteco Group Services Ltd. Japan, Republic  of Korea, New Zealand and AustraliaWT/ACC/SAU/36
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These companies will be ready to assume their duties in implementing these arrangements after
60 days from the date of this announcement so as to ensure the continuity of current procedures
and the smooth transition into this phase of the ICCP.
2. Addition of "Toys and Playground Equipment" to th e list of ICCP regulated products in order to
provide additional protection for the health and safety of children due to the hazards and many
accidents caused by these products.
3. Annulment of the requirement for annual renewal of  registration and the fees associated with it.
4. Progressive enhancement of testing facilities manifested by the addition of 60 independent
approved laboratories globally in the past mont hs, bringing the total laboratories approved to
provide services to the Program to more than  180, distributed in various parts of the World.
5. Following recent agreements with the Saudi Arab ian Customs, simplified procedures have been
introduced to allow regulated goods accompanied by ICCP Certificates of Conformity to be
cleared even more swiftly and with greater ease.
6. These improved regulations will be effectively implemented by the Program Managers
indicated above after 60 days from the date of this announcement.
7. In light of the paramount importance given by the MOC and SASO to transparency of
regulations and ease of obtaining full information concerning the ICCP, the "ICCP
Comprehensive Procedures and Guidelines" wi ll be distributed soon to reflect these
improvements.  The ICCP Website (http://204.57.45.86/ ) has been available for some time.  In
addition, a greater number of seminars and meetings will be held for importers, exporters,
manufacturers and their representing organizations to shed more light on various aspects of the
Program.
On this occasion, the MOC and SASO call upon all companies and organizations involved in
the exporting or importing of regulated products to  continue their cooperation and adhere to the
requirements of the Program in order to ensure the quality and soundness of these products and henceprovide protection for the health and safety of the consumer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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