SABER DESKSaber Desk · Quick answers
How long does SABER certification take?
It depends entirely on whether your test reports already exist. Starting from zero with a wireless product, the realistic answer is 7–12 weeks before the vessel departs (6–10 weeks on official service times alone — Certification Bodies commonly run longer). With compliant reports in hand, the certificate steps themselves are short: the calendar is mostly your CB's review.
The breakdown by step
- SABER account + product entry: officially immediate and free — the real wait is your Commercial Registration and documents.
- CST type approval (wireless only): about 3–4 weeks.
- IECEE recognition (in-scope products, via JEEM): officially up to 15 working days (SASO's service page lists 5).
- Lab testing (if reports do not exist): the big variable — often 2–4+ weeks.
- PCoC, with compliant reports in hand: officially 5–6 working days · in practice often 10–14.
- SCoC: 1–2 working days official (commercial service); valid 90 days (extended from 60 in September 2026).
- Customs clearance with a valid SCoC: typically 3–5 working days.
What decides where you land
Parallelisation. The CST application, IECEE lab testing, the RoHS documentation file and the energy-efficiency registration are independent tracks — start them all at once. The sequence only hardens afterwards: every prerequisite must exist before the PCoC, and the PCoC before any SCoC. Run them one after another and you stack the weeks.
For scale: with compliant CB reports already in hand, the two SABER certificate steps (PCoC + SCoC) add up to roughly 6–8 working days of official service time — but plan the calendar around your CB's actual review, not the official minimums.
The planning rule: since January 2025, certification happens before goods move — certifying after arrival is a violation with re-export risk, so there is no time saved by gambling on it.
Check three facts in the free sample
The free sample is one English PDF and one Arabic PDF: the prerequisite stack, PCoC basics and 3 of the 7 customs traps — enough to verify this page against saber.sa yourself.
Saber Desk is an independent reference — not a certification body, and not affiliated with SASO. We do not issue certificates. Fees and processing times are the official figures published on saber.sa unless marked as observed practice; confirm HS codes and required standards for a specific shipment with your Certification Body. Edition: October 2026.