SFDA Registration for Cosmetics, Food & Supplements in Saudi Arabia

Beauty is the biggest category on independent Saudi online stores. Cosmetics and care make up 20.1% of sales on Salla, with health and fitness close behind.

To sell any of it, you need the SFDA, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority. It approves everything people eat, put on their skin or take for their health.

That sounds heavy, but it's lighter than you'd think.

A cosmetics listing is free and instant once your Saudi importer holds the right licence. Food and supplements take longer, but the steps are clear.

You'll see which SFDA system each product uses, who holds the approval, what the labels need, and what it costs, with a worked example and a checklist. It's part of our Saudi Arabia regulations guides.

What does the SFDA regulate?

The SFDA covers four sectors: food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. If your product goes in the mouth, on the body or claims a health benefit, it's almost certainly theirs.

For an online seller, that usually means:

• Cosmetics and personal care. Skincare, make-up, hair care, perfume, oud oils, deodorant and soap.
• Food and drink. Snacks, coffee, tea, dates, sauces and anything prepackaged.
• Supplements. Vitamins, protein powders, gummies and energy drinks.
• Medical devices. Thermometers, blood-pressure monitors, contact lenses.

Everything else, from phone chargers to toys, goes through SASO's SABER platform instead. If you're unsure which side your product sits on, our SABER and SASO guide covers the other half.

Which SFDA system does your product use?

Each product type has its own route, so think of SFDA as one office with three different counters.

	Cosmetics	Food	Supplements
SFDA system	GHAD (listing)	FIRS (registration)	Classification, then registration
Who files	Licensed Saudi importer	Registered Saudi importer	Licensed Saudi importer
SFDA fee	Free	Free for simple foods; SAR 5,000 for special foods	SAR 5,000 per product
Typical time	1–3 weeks with prep	A few weeks per product	2–6 months
Per-shipment extra	Certificate of conformity	Health and Halal certificates	Import permit as needed

Cosmetics: listing in GHAD

GHAD is SFDA's unified electronic system, and it replaced the old eCosma system on 30 March 2023.

A cosmetics "registration" is really a marketing notification, also called a listing. Your importer picks the product, adds the manufacturer and uploads:

• an authorisation letter from the manufacturer or brand owner
• a clear product photo and the label artwork
• the full ingredient list, with concentrations and functions

SFDA charges nothing, and the listing goes live straight away. Before any of that, the importer needs a cosmetics establishment licence in GHAD, which takes 3–6 working days.

Each shipment then needs a certificate of conformity from an approved body before customs releases it.

Food: establishment and product registration in FIRS

FIRS is SFDA's Food Import Registration System. Before your first shipment, the importer registers itself as an establishment, then registers each product.

Stock must sit in an SFDA-compliant licensed warehouse. Small importers are exempt by signing a pledge, if they bring in no more than 5 consignments and 2,000 kg a year.

Each consignment clears through FASAH, the customs single window, with a health certificate, certificate of origin, invoice, packing list and bill of lading.

Supplements: classify before you register

Supplements sit on the line between food and medicine. So the first step is SFDA's Product Classification System, which decides which one your product is.

A vitamin gummy with normal doses usually lands as a food supplement. A herbal product with medical claims is often classed as a health product, which goes through the drug registration system and costs far more.

Who holds the SFDA registration?

A Saudi company always does, because a GHAD account needs a Saudi commercial registration (CR) with a cosmetics activity, and foreign-owned companies also need a MISA investment licence.

So a foreign brand has three options:

• Your Saudi distributor. The simplest route if you already sell wholesale.
• An importer of record (IOR) service. A 3PL, forwarder or consultant imports in its own name and holds the listings. Our importer of record guide compares them.
• Your own Saudi company. The most control, once sales justify it.

For medical devices, the holder is called an Authorized Representative (AR). SFDA lets you transfer a device approval from one AR to another in GHAD.

What must SFDA labels show?

Arabic is the rule for everything SFDA regulates. Other languages are welcome, but only alongside Arabic and saying the same thing.

Cosmetics follow GSO 1943, the Gulf cosmetics safety standard. The label needs:

• the product name and its function in Arabic
• ingredients by INCI name, in descending order
• net content, batch number and origin
• production and expiry dates, plus storage conditions
• a unique barcode for each size or shade

Two easy mistakes: don't mention SFDA on the label, and don't make medical claims.

Food follows SFDA.FD/GSO 9 for labelling and SFDA.FD/GSO 150-1 for expiry dates. The label lists ingredients, nutrition facts, net contents, origin and storage instructions.

Dates must be printed or embossed by the producer, because date stickers aren't allowed.

An Arabic sticker is fine only if it's a single, manufacturer-supplied sticker that can't peel off and doesn't hide the original label.

Want the full Gulf labelling rules? See our GCC product labelling guide.

Which ingredients does SFDA reject?

Most refusals come from a few hidden ingredients: pork gelatin, alcohol in food, CBD and slimming or sexual claims. Screen every formula against our guide to prohibited items in Saudi Arabia before you buy stock.

SFDA adds two checks of its own:

• Cosmetic substances. GSO 1943's annexes list banned substances, plus the approved preservatives, UV filters and colours.
• Halal certificates. Food with animal-origin ingredients, or a "Halal" claim on the pack, needs an original Halal certificate. Meat and poultry also need a Halal slaughter certificate from the exporting plant.

How much does SFDA registration cost, and how long does it take?

SFDA's own fees are low for cosmetics and simple foods. The real costs are the importer, label work and per-shipment certificates.

Worked example: a skincare brand adds a vitamin gummy

Say a foreign brand launches 5 skincare products in Saudi Arabia, plus one vitamin gummy. It uses a consultant and a Saudi importer.

That's before the importer's own fee and any Arabic label reprint. If you run your own Saudi company instead, add SFDA's cosmetics warehouse licence: SAR 3,000, valid for 5 years.

The single gummy costs more than all five creams. It's also the slow part, so launch the skincare first and file the supplement at the same time so it's ready for the next season.

Need a hand with the paperwork? Compare product certification consultants in Saudi Arabia.

How to get SFDA approval, step by step

The order matters, because most delays come from printing labels before anyone has checked the formula.

1

Classify each product

Decide whether it's a cosmetic, food, supplement or medical device. Use SFDA's Product Classification System for anything borderline.

2

Check the formula

Screen ingredients for pork gelatin, alcohol, CBD and GSO 1943 banned substances. Get Halal certificates for animal-origin ingredients.

3

Pick your Saudi holder

Choose a distributor, IOR service or your own CR. Sign an authorisation letter that names every product.

4

Get the importer licensed

A cosmetics establishment licence in GHAD, or an establishment registration in FIRS for food.

5

Design the Arabic label

Build it to GSO 1943 or GSO 9 before production. Send the artwork to your importer for review.

6

List or register each product

Cosmetics in GHAD, food in FIRS, supplements after classification.

7

Clear the first shipment

Get the certificate of conformity or health certificate, then your broker clears through FASAH.

Selling SFDA products online: marketplaces and parcels

Selling online adds two checks on top of the usual customs clearance.

Marketplaces. Beauty, grocery and health are gated categories on Amazon.sa and noon, so expect to show the same SFDA listing or registration that customs asks for, before your products go live.

Cross-border parcels. Shipping single orders to Saudi shoppers from abroad doesn't skip SFDA. Parcels under SAR 1,000 normally pay no duty, but that exemption doesn't apply when the goods need another agency's permit.

The GCC de minimis guide explains the threshold.

Medicines and health products are stricter still: a personal import above 15 packs needs an SFDA permit, so don't plan a supplement business around parcels.

Notes for beauty and fragrance brands

• Start here. Cosmetics are the fastest SFDA route, so they make a good first category.
• Shades and sizes. Each barcode is its own listing, so plan your range before you file.
• Claims. Keep to cosmetic claims, because "treats eczema" turns a cream into a medicine.
• Perfume. It's dangerous goods for air freight, so plan sea or ground for stock.
• Halal and alcohol-free. Both claims help sales with Saudi shoppers, so prove them and print them.

Notes for food and supplement brands

• Shelf life. Long-life products clear more comfortably, because importers check remaining shelf life at the port.
• Small volumes. The warehouse pledge covers up to 5 consignments a year, enough to test the market.
• Capsules. Swap pork gelatin for plant or bovine Halal shells before you file.
• Energy drinks. SFDA treats them like supplements, with their own registration guide.

Notes for Chinese sellers

• Hold off on food and supplements. Start with lines that don't need SFDA, then add beauty once you have a Saudi importer. Our hot categories for China sellers suggests where to begin.
• Factory documents. Ask the factory for the full formula with concentrations, a certificate of analysis and a free sale certificate before you sign.
• Print Arabic at the factory. It's cheaper than relabelling in Riyadh, and food can't use date stickers anyway.