29 Mar 2011

Intertek appointed CoC provider by Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) for Cosmetic and Perfumes Products.

Intertek, a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world, announced today that it has signed a Conformity Assessment Agreement with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) to provide Conformity Assessment services for the import of Cosmetics products into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agreement confirms Intertek as a provider of Conformity Assessment Services for exports of cosmetic products to the Kingdom and authorised to issue Certificates of Conformity. The certificate is a mandatory requirement for Customs clearance.

There are no fundamental changes to the current system of cosmetic shipment certification except that now the certification of the shipments can only be performed by SFDA-approved certification bodies. Further, as per the agreement, exporters have two routes for obtaining the Certificate of Conformity depending on whether their products are listed or not. The Certificate of Conformity will not only enable the importer to clear the KSA Customs smoothly but will also help in launching and trading certified products in the KSA market.

David Gregory, Vice President of Intertek’s Government Services said: “Having worked within KSA and been the largest service provider for the Conformity Assessment Programme for more than 15 years, we are delighted that the SFDA have appointed us to provide this service as leaders in the field of cosmetics testing, clinical research, analysis and certification which enables us to bring a lot of added value through expertise to both the industry and the SFDA.

We are the largest Authorised Inspection Body for cosmetics being exported to the Kingdom having issued more than 85,000 certificates for cosmetic and perfume products since 1998, have registered thousands of manufacturers and are the only one to have a dedicated regulatory affairs centre based in the region, enabling us to offer exporters extensive expertise, the very latest news on regulations as well as first class service.”

Intertek has pioneered Conformity Assessment Programmes for Governments worldwide, helping them implement programmes to improve the quality and safety of their imports. Intertek continues to work with global exporters and manufacturers to ensure that they comply with these requirements and achieve Customs clearance.

Intertek has a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 27,000 people covering more than 100 countries around the world. Intertek has issued more than 1.5 million certificates and test reports to companies wishing to export their products to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.