SABER DESKSaber Desk · Quick answers
What happens if you import without a SABER certificate?
The shipment does not clear, and since 2025 there is no way to fix it after the fact. No valid SCoC means no customs clearance; the container sits at the port accruing storage and demurrage while you scramble. Since January 2025 both certificates must exist before arrival — Letters of Undertaking are no longer accepted, and goods arriving without certificates are treated as a violation with re-export among the outcomes.
What "stuck" actually costs
If the problem is a missing prerequisite — say a wireless device with no CST approval, or an in-scope product with no IECEE recognition — the arithmetic is brutal: a CST type approval typically runs about 3–4 weeks and IECEE recognition via JEEM officially takes up to 15 working days, and neither can be compressed once the goods are already sitting at the port. The meter runs the whole time.
The bigger change is timing
Since January 2025, both the PCoC and SCoC must exist before arrival. Letters of Undertaking — the old way to promise certification later — are no longer accepted. Goods that arrive without their certificates are treated as a violation, with re-export among the possible outcomes. There is no catch-up lane anymore.
Other ways shipments die even with a certificate
- The PCoC expired at the moment you requested the SCoC.
- The commercial invoice does not match the SABER registration — the single most-cited cause of delay.
- The B/L Consignee does not match the Commercial Registration behind your SABER account.
- Testing was done to a dead standard (IEC 60950-1 instead of IEC 62368-1).
So the cost of "not having SABER" is not a fine you pay and move on — it is a stuck container, weeks of delay, demurrage, a missed sales window, and possibly shipping the goods back. The seven document traps behind most stuck containers, with the pre-departure check for each, are in the customs-traps article.
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.