SHIPPER’S DESK — IMPORTING INTO SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Import & Customs Guides
Fifteen plain-English guides to moving commercial goods into and out of the Kingdom — the customs clearance process end to end, the documents, the Fasah single window, HS codes and duty, VAT, restricted and prohibited goods, temporary admission, re-export, bonded zones, dangerous goods, pharmaceuticals, food and personal effects. Every rule names the authority behind it.
These are guides to procedure, not advice on a shipment. Every rule on these pages names the authority that set it, and every page links to that authority. Procedures and rates change; RiyadhCargo.com is a news monitoring service, not a customs broker or a law firm. Confirm the current position with ZATCA or a licensed Saudi customs broker before you ship.
Getting goods in
The route from company registration to collecting cargo at the gate.
GUIDE — START HERE
How to import commercial goods into Saudi Arabia
The whole route from company registration to collecting cargo at the gate: who is allowed to be the importer, what has to exist before the goods…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — CLEARANCE
The Saudi customs clearance process
What happens between a vessel or aircraft arriving and the delivery order being issued: advance cargo information, the declaration, agency approvals…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — DOCUMENTS
Documents needed to import into Saudi Arabia
The document set for a commercial import, what each one has to say, who certifies it, and which additional certificates attach to particular…
OPEN GUIDE →The systems
Fasah, the declaration, and how to see what customs is doing.
GUIDE — SYSTEMS
How Fasah works
Fasah is the platform every Saudi customs declaration passes through. What it is, who registers on it, what it connects to, what you can actually do…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — TRACKING
How to track a Saudi customs declaration
Where to look up a declaration and its duties, what the platform will and will not tell you, how port and carrier tracking differ from customs…
OPEN GUIDE →Duty, tax and controls
What you pay, on what basis, and what you are not allowed to bring.
GUIDE — CLASSIFICATION & DUTY
Saudi HS codes and customs duty
How the 12-digit GCC Integrated Customs Tariff works, what the code actually decides beyond the duty rate, how customs value is built, where…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — TAX
VAT on imported goods
How the 15% import VAT is calculated and when it falls due, the difference between duty relief and VAT relief, how VAT-registered importers recover…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — CONTROLS
Restricted and prohibited imports
The difference between a prohibition and a restriction, what falls into each, which authority controls what, and how to check a specific commodity…
OPEN GUIDE →Goods that leave again
Temporary admission, re-export and storage under suspension.
GUIDE — TEMPORARY ADMISSION
Temporary import procedures
Bringing goods in without paying duty because they are going out again: the ATA carnet route accepted since June 2024, the bank-guarantee route…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — RE-EXPORT
Re-export procedures
Sending goods back out: re-export from a bonded zone, re-export of goods that were cleared, returned goods relief for Saudi exports coming home, and…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — BONDED STORAGE
Bonded warehouse and bonded zone rules
Storing and handling goods under suspension of duty, VAT and excise: what the 2023 rules changed, the licence types, what a non-resident can do…
OPEN GUIDE →Regulated cargo
Where a second regulator decides whether the shipment moves.
GUIDE — DANGEROUS GOODS
Dangerous-goods shipment requirements
Which rulebook governs which leg, the approvals that have to exist before a hazardous consignment is discharged, the documentation set, and the…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharmaceutical import requirements
Why a medicine cannot be imported on a customs declaration alone: SFDA product registration, the local agent, establishment licensing, the…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — FOOD
Food-import clearance requirements
How a food consignment is cleared: the registrations that must exist before it ships, the certificates that travel with it, where halal…
OPEN GUIDE →GUIDE — PERSONAL VS COMMERCIAL
Personal effects versus commercial cargo
Where the line falls between a household move and an import, what customs looks at when deciding, the documents and residency status a personal…
OPEN GUIDE →Also on this desk
Saudi port profiles — berths, terminals, customs and cold chain at each seaport and inland port · Saudi airport cargo guides — cargo villages, tonnage, carriers and handling at the air gateways · Saudi cargo data — Mawani and GACA series month by month, with CSV downloads · GCC freight statistics — annual sea and air volumes for all six Gulf states.