Are you considering certifying a low-voltage electrical device for sale in the Gulf region?
With a population of 50 million and GDP of $3.2 trillion, the Gulf State presents a great opportunity for market access.
To understand the needed requirements, it is important to know about the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional political and economic union created in 1981 and the Gulf Standards Organization (GSO), initiated in 2005.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States include:
The GSO is responsible for formulating, adopting, updating and publishing:
- Technical Regulations
- Gulf Standards
- Gulf Conformity Assessment Procedures for commodities and products.
GSO members are committed to gradually changing the Regional Conformity Assessment Scheme (RCAS) from using mandatory technical standards to mandatory technical regulations based upon the essential requirements of products.
The GSO’s technical requirements are designed to protect the consumers and end-users from any hazards that may be associated with a given product (including physical or mechanical resistance, flammability, radioactivity, etc.). This moves the Gulf Region’s conformity assessment procedures to be more in line with other major world regulations, such as CE marking. Conformity is generally based on compliance with IEC standards which have been adopted as common regional standards.
What is included in the pre-market assessment and post market control?
If you are ready to start with the process, here are a few items you should be aware of:
Pre-Market Assessment (by manufacturer)
- Essential Technical Requirements
- Obligations of the manufacturer, importer and distributor
- Conformity Assessment Procedures (“Modules”)
- Involvement of 3rd Party Conformity Assessment Bodies (“Notified Bodies”)
- Declaration of Conformity
- GCC Conformity Marking (“G-mark”)
Post-Market Control (by the GCC member states authorities)
- Complaints
- Accidents
- Market surveillance
- Risk assessment and information exchange
What’s the next step?
Work with a neutral third party Notified Body (NB) for conformity assessment. Notified Bodies are independent conformity assessment bodies, which have been assessed as competent and impartial by GSO, and have been authorized by the GCC authorities to perform the regulatory technical assessment of products intended for the GCC common market. The Notified Body will perform testing and inspection of your device to assess whether or not it meets GSO standards.
More information
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