Construction Machinery and Equipments in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the one market in this division where lifting and earth-moving plant is genuinely certified before it clears customs rather than merely declared. SASO's machinery regime is layered, and the layers reach directly into what is offered here.

Which part of the machinery regulation bites

Machinery Safety Part 3, on lifting equipment, names HS headings 8425, 8426, 8427 and 8428 — hoists, winches, overhead travelling cranes, tower cranes, mobile cranes, forklifts and conveyors. Goods in those headings require a certificate from SASO or an authorised body under ISO/IEC 17067 Type 1a, supported by a technical file containing a declaration of conformity and a risk assessment document. Part 2 reaches the mobile and heavy-duty families — earth-moving, drilling and road-construction machinery — covering the 280 rotary drilling machine, the articulated backhoe loaders and the crawler cold milling machines. Above these sits the general requirements regulation, SASO Decision 132 of February 2024.

Used equipment, and equipment installed but not yet in service, needs an inspection certificate from a SASO-approved notified body. Where a heading attracts no applicable technical regulation the importer files a self-declaration instead, but a Shipment Certificate of Conformity is still needed to clear the consignment. Check each code in SABER's own lookup: SASO treats the platform's codes as controlling, and annex lists in published PDFs lag behind.

How the filing is split

Two certificates are involved, both registered by the Saudi side. The importer registers a Product Certificate of Conformity once per product with a SASO-notified body, then draws a Shipment Certificate of Conformity against each consignment. The platform is run by Elm and feeds the FASAH customs single window. Fees excluding VAT are SAR 500 per product certificate and SAR 350 per shipment. Registration sits with the importer, so settle the buyer's SABER account before the technical file is assembled.

Nameplates, legalisation and tender access

Mains supply is 230 V at 60 Hz, a pairing found almost nowhere else: the move up from 127 V from 2010 left the frequency alone. State both figures on motor and compressor nameplates. Safety warnings, instructions and the manual must be in Arabic, alone or with English, and origin must be worded exactly as ‘Made in’ or ‘Manufactured in’. Chinese supporting documents now carry an apostille rather than an embassy stamp, consular legalisation having stopped when China's accession took effect on 7 November 2023.

Etimad work is gated, not merely weighted: since 1 January 2024 a bidder needs a Regional Headquarters licence in the Kingdom, performing real management functions with fifteen full-time staff in year one. Quantities therefore run through a Saudi-licensed entity or registered agent, and GCC products carry up to a 10% price preference. Duty rates were revised up to WTO ceilings from 27 November 2025, so recalculate landed cost on current ZATCA rates. What is warranted, who installs and who trains are set by the supply contract; spares and after-sales service are not within our supply.