Dear Valued Clients and Certified Organizations,

Recently, the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) has officially issued a regulatory instruction, explicitly designating the "verification of the absence of asbestos in toy products" as a National Deviation requirement for the market of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This instruction applies to all newly applied certifications and currently valid toy certificates.

To assist our clients in promptly understanding the new regulatory developments, making compliance preparations in advance, and avoiding obstacles to certificate issuance, renewal or revision, the core requirements and response recommendations are hereby notified as follows:

I. Scope of Application

For all certificates applied for under the GCC Technical Regulation on Toys (BD-131704-01) that include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within their target country of certification, the asbestos testing requirement shall be implemented, regardless of whether other GCC Member States are also covered by the same certificate, and regardless of the toy category concerned.

II. Core Requirements

· Classification as a National Deviation: The verification of the absence of asbestos shall be treated as a National Deviation and incorporated accordingly into the conformity assessment process, the test plan, and the technical file.

· Test Report Requirement: A test report demonstrating the absence of asbestos shall be issued by a laboratory accredited for the applied test method (recommended standard: REACH Annex XVII), covering the materials liable to contain asbestos, in particular sand-based, powder, clay, modelling and mineral-filled materials, etc.

· Information Completeness: The report shall clearly identify the tested material(s), the sampling basis, the test method applied, and the detection limit, and ensure traceability between the test report and the product references listed in the certificate scope.

III. Response Recommendations

For certificates already issued and currently valid that include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within their export target country, we will require the asbestos testing evidence to be completed during the renewal or revision of the certificates.

For new applications, where the export target country includes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we will require evidence of completed asbestos verification, or the corresponding testing shall be conducted by a CQC-designated laboratory.

Where the required evidence cannot be provided, appropriate action will be taken on the certificate in accordance with the applicable GSO procedures, which may affect the validity of the certificate.

For any inquiries, please feel free to contact us via:

Eng. Feng, 010-83886869, fengweibin@cqc.com.cn

 Hereby notified.

China Quality Certification Centre

26 August 2026