New Saudi WLAN Regulations and RoHS Implementation Updates in Saudi Arabia

- New Saudi WLAN regulations. (Article is based on text provided by Vanessa Wen, edited by T.Sollie)

The Saudi Arabian Communications & Information Technology Commission (CITC) has published new Regulations for WLAN. (These replace the ‘Wireless local area network (WLAN/Wi-FI)-Usage Regulations’ from 2008).

The Regulations apply to the use of the WLAN Frequency Bands within the country in order to enable sharing with other non-WLAN services and applications, i.e. not to cause harmful interference with other services and applications.

Other than the WLAN Frequency Bands and Applied Technical Conditions, the Regulations officially enable the use of WiFi 6 E in Saudi Arabia over the entire 5925-7125 MHz band.

The published Regulations can be seen in full at this link:PL-PM-002-E-WiFi Regulations.pdf (citc.gov.sa)

For further information please contact Vanessa.Wen@nemko.com

 - RoHS regulation in effect from July this year(Article is based on text provided by Lars Hjerpseth, edited by T.Sollie)

As reported in earlier issues of this newsletter, the Saudi regulation for restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products was published by the authority SASO (Saudi Standards & Metrology Organization) in July 2021, but implementation of has been postponed two times. The latest was 6 months from 5 January this year, whereby it will be in effect from 4 July. Different types of products will be included at different times, starting with small household appliances 4 July, large appliances 2 October and ITC equipment 31 December. Other product types will follow next year.

The regulation concerns the following six chemical substances: Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent chromium, Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).
The limits for these are in line with the European RoHS Directive, while this Directive has since 2015 also restricted four additional substances.

Another important difference from the European RoHS Directive is that self-declaration will not be sufficient.
The manufacturer or importer must arrange for necessary testing/assessment and certification of the products by a designated Notified Body, such as Nemko.

A detailed guideline for how to comply with this new regulation is available here.

For further information and assistance with necessary testing/certification for market access to Saudi Arabia and/or to other countries in the Arabic Gulf region, please contact Lars.Hjerpseth@nemko.com