News Details

Saudi Arabia has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its intention to introduce registration requirements for conventional and low-risk public health pesticides. The draft which was prepared by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), is open for comments until 2 November 2026.

The requirements would apply to products intended for registration and sale in Saudi Arabia, whether they are produced locally or imported. They are based on the GCC Pesticides Law and its implementing regulations and would require applications to be submitted through the SFDA’s unified electronic system, Ghad.

General Registration Requirements

Applicants would need to provide documents including:

• Authorization from the manufacturer for imported pesticides
• Evidence that the pesticide is registered and used in its country of origin
• Product composition and technical information
• The product label used in the country of origin
• A manufacturer’s quality guarantee
• A certificate of analysis
• A safety data sheet (SDS)
• Efficacy studies conducted by an independent accredited laboratory
• A proposed Arabic or bilingual Arabic-English label
• An undertaking to retain two samples of each package size for analysis and conformity checks

If a pesticide is not registered in its country of origin and is manufactured exclusively for export, the applicant would instead need to provide evidence that it is registered in at least two of the following markets: the European Union, Japan, the United States or Canada.

Additional Requirements for Conventional Pesticides

Applications for conventional public health pesticides would also require:

• Details of the complete product composition, including solvents, inert ingredients, activators, stabilizers, spreading agents and impurities
• A certificate identifying the origin and purity of the active substance
• Storage studies demonstrating stability for two years
• Health assessment information for the active substance, including information on carcinogenicity and other adverse health effects
• Six acute toxicity and irritation studies for the finished product, covering oral, dermal and inhalation toxicity, skin sensitization, dermal irritation and eye irritation

The certificate of analysis must be based on recognized methods and be from an independent laboratory operating according to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), ISO/IEC 17025 or an equivalent standard.

Reduced Requirements for Low-Risk Pesticides

The draft sets out fewer registration requirements for low-risk public health pesticides than for conventional products. Applicants would still need to provide evidence of registration, technical product information, a certificate of analysis, an SDS, efficacy studies and proposed labelling. However, the draft does not require the full storage study package, active substance health assessment or six-part toxicity package specified for conventional pesticides.

All supporting documents must be in Arabic or English. Documents issued in another language must be accompanied by an authenticated translation into Arabic or English.

The dates of adoption and publication have not yet been determined. The requirements are expected to enter into force six months after publication