Saudi Gazette

Jeddah — Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) announced Tuesday that starting from next March 2018 all cement and concrete imported from outside the country should abide by the standers specified by SASO and have the organization's logo.

Towards the end of 2018 all cement and concrete companies in the Kingdom will be obliged to put the SASO quality insurance logo, revealed Yazid Al-Faraj, head of the department supervising the implementation of the logo system at SASO. He told Saudi Gazette that up to 90 percent of cement firms in the Kingdom do adhere to SASO standards while many still need one year to make concrete up to SASO standards.

He said that they are now providing standards documents for 14 different products in the construction sector. He added that they are starting with cement and concrete because they are the most dangerous products if they are not of high quality.

SASO in cooperation with different government bodies including the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Civil Defense and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs will start to note down the violations. Any violating company will be required to either export the products to another country that accepts the standards of violating cements and concrete or destroy the private ducts on its expenses. Al-Faraj also added that there will be fines specified accordingly.

He also said that they have other regulations, to be announced soon, which specifies the regulations for elevators, trucks fenders and theme parks.