The Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation (SASO) provides a licensing service for the use of the Quality Mark for products from companies that have an effective management system to ensure that goods are produced in accordance with Saudi standards. The SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification is mandatory for the following 10 categories of products, including sockets, which is an important addition to the CB and GMARK certifications for sockets. 

(Mandatory categories for SQM certification in Saudi Arabia)

The previous article has an introduction to SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification. It is easy to see that SQM certification is very strict in terms of the preparation of preliminary information, factory qualifications and the certification process. And not only is the whole certification cycle time-consuming, but the cost is also higher than other certifications. Therefore, importers can start looking for suppliers who have already passed SQM certification as their next step in the development of the supply chain system, to get the first chance to cooperate with relevant suppliers and to take advantage of the oversupply of suppliers with relevant qualifications at a later stage.

Using wall sockets as an example, let's look at what the next step should be as a Saudi importer to quickly adjust the import strategy after SQM certification becomes mandatory. 

一、Imported suppliers hold brands.

      The brands held by suppliers here are mainly those held by the suppliers themselves where there is already included in the SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certified supplier.

1. Find a supplier with SQM certification.

There are only a handful of socket manufacturers in China who already have SQM certification, so importers can find these manufacturers through a number of channels. You can also contact us privately for information on suppliers. On the one hand, suppliers with SQM certification have no major problems with their qualifications. And on the other hand, they save time and effort on SQM certification, which greatly reduces the lead time for product development.

 2. Select products from the brands and models included in the supplier's SQM certification.

      Once you have found an SQM certified supplier, you can find out which of the supplier's own brands are included in the supplier's certification. If the importer does not have its own brand requirements and is very interested in the supplier's products, then the supplier's brand can be imported directly, so that the production of large shipments can start directly after the order is confirmed, without having to do the brand transfer certificate.

3. Confirm the validity of the SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification.

      SQM certification is valid for 3 years. For the first time to interface with suppliers with SQM certification, it is recommended to check whether the certificate is within the validity period, and to investigate the validity of the certificate on the official website to prevent problems with the certificate, resulting in the subsequent import disputes.

4. Directly order supplier brand, or you can also act as an agent supplier brand.

        About the previous 2nd point of using the supplier's own brand, after the initial cooperation, you can summarize the market feedback. For the high popularity of the product, you can negotiate with the supplier and do the model products in the Saudi market underwriting. Further, monopolise the market source for that model.

二、 Choose to do the importer's own brand when importing.

  Here it means that the importer needs to do his own brand and does not accept the existing brand in the supplier's SQM certification.

 1. Look for suppliers with SQM certification.

    The first thing to do is to look for a cooperative factory among suppliers with SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification. The reason why the emphasis has been on finding suppliers with SQM certification is that SQM certification is a new certification for both the supplier and the importer, neither of whom are skilled in the process and both need time to figure out and study each of the steps involved. We know from the laboratory that if we start from zero with a supplier who does not have this certification, then the whole order cycle will take 2-3 months even if it is very very smooth. And this schedule is only the time to do the supplier's own brand SQM certification, not including the time needed to do the import license transfer. The laboratory follows the past experience that the whole process will not go very smoothly. For a supplier with no SQM certificate, it costs even six months, so starting from zero will often affect the sales plan.

2. Confirm the validity of the SQM.

      This point is the same as point 2 above, you must have a rigorous attitude to identify the validity of the certificate. There are only a few suppliers with the certificate in China, but many suppliers will tell you that their SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certificate is already in progress and can be completed immediately in order to get the order, which is not the case.

3. Importer's own brand transfer of certification.

      Importing the importer's own brand requires a transfer of certification on the basis of the supplier's original SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification. The supplier's original SQM certified brand is generally the supplier's own brand, which needs to be transferred to the importer's brand SQM certification for effective customs clearance. The following aspects need to be noted in the process of transferring certification.

     -- Whether the Saudi registered trademark is already in force.

     -- Pay attention to whether the trademark contains the categories SWITCH and SOCKET.

     -- The scope of business license of the importer and whether it is valid,and the business license letterhead and the trademark holder letterhead need to be consistent.

     -- The importer uses its own barcode and needs to have a barcode registration certificate.

In summary, small and medium importers or those who are new to this type of product can opt for suppliers with SQM (Saudi Quality Mark) certification for their own brands. This option is the most efficient and cost-effective way to go under the new import certification constraints. The other part of the importers of medium to large volumes, need to do their own brand awareness. Then, in the process of transferring the certificate, pay more attention to the above-mentioned points of attention to ensure the smooth transfer of the certificate.