Introducing E-certificate in the Arabic Gulf Region

                                                                                                                                                                                       

In the Arabic Gulf region, the GCC Standards Organization (GSO) has officially launched a new service with an electronic solution, an ‘E-Certificate’ associated with the G-mark, which is mandatory for products to be marketed in the GCC member countries, i.e. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen.                      
According to GSO, this enhancement aims to further improve the efficiency, traceability, and reliability of the conformity assessment procedures for the G-mark, and to align with the best international practices.

The service was made available from 1 October with a given 3-month transition period for making manual uploads of PDF certificates. Furthermore, priority in the approval process is now given to applications for E-certificates.

Some key features of the new system are:
- The E-Certificates will be generated automatically via the G-Mark platform.
- The GSO Notified Bodies do not have to sign the E-Certificates.
- The Notified Bodies’ internal documentation must clearly indicate who is the decision-maker for each certificate.
A comprehensive user guide has been provided to the Notified Bodies. 
Nemko has started issuing G Mark E-Certificates for initial certification, and implementation of the service for update and renewal of certificates is in process. The current practice of sending the draft certificate to the manufacturer for review and confirmation before issuing the final certificate will be continued.

The official announcement from GSO may be seen at this link: Transition to G Mark E-Certificate Service.pdf

For further information and/or application for G-mark certification, please contact yasaman.vadoudi@nemko.com 

(The article is based on the info provided by Yasaman Vadoudi and edited by T.Sollie)