Dear Customer,

Intertek wishes to inform you of the important announcements posted by GSO as a means of addressing the worldwide impact COVID-19 is having on all Industry sectors, the policy changes made by the GSO are a means of ensuring continuation of services for the Gulf Mark Certificate, import of products to the GCC market and lessen impacts to trade.

GSO issued an announcement to all Notified Bodies on 1st April 2020 about "Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on GCC Conformity Tracking Activities". Further to the GSO announcement on 1st April 2020, about the "Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on GCC Conformity Tracking Activities", and in our continuous assessment for the impact of Covid-19, GSO decided to grant administrative extension of the validity by three (3) months for Gulf Type Examination Certificates whose expiry dates are between 1st March 2020 and 30th June 2020.

Based on two GSO announcements in April 2020, GSO will be implementing some temporary measures for GCTS activities as follows:

1. Renewal of G Marking certificate:

For the renewal of certificates, notified bodies may re-use the same test report of the current certificates, subject to the following:

• a) Submission of a declaration from the manufacturer that no technical changes are applied to the certified product.
• b) This only applies to G Marking certificates that will expire before 31st March 2021. Updates of the standards on Gulf Type Examination Certificates during renewal is an exception, and would not be required for Gulf Type Examination Certificates that will expire before 31st March 2021. As stated in the announcement, the Notified Body shall accept the existing test reports in conjunction with the described declaration to perform the renewal procedure.

2. Update the standards on Certificates:

For G marking Certificates that requires updating to meet the condition to use an updated harmonized standard after 24 months from publishing date:

• a) The manufacturer can still use the same certificate without any update till 31st March 2021.
• b) This condition is only applicable for certificates that will expire after 31st March 2021, but otherwise will need to be updated before 31st March 2021.

3. New Applications for G Marking Certificates:

All new applications for G marking certificates will be handled according to to the normal procedures, however, if any notified body or manufacturer face difficulties in issuing certificates due to Covid – 19 crisis, GSO would provide the necessary support on a case by case basis.

Should you have any questions concerning the contents of the enclosed announcement and if further advice or clarification is needed please contact your local office.

Intertek Services

Intertek has a number of notified bodies of Gulf Standardized Organization (GSO) and certification bodies recognized by Gulf Acceptance Centre (GAC) for low voltage electrical equipment. It has three officially notified bodies in Asia Pacific region, Intertek Shanghai, Intertek Hongkong and Intertek Singapore. With a service network all around the world, it can provide the manufacturers with convenient one-stop service of local test and certification issuing. We will also, based on assessment service, provide you with various of support and guide relating to requirements and regulation of G Marking as well as technical regulation of Gulf region, helping your products to successfully enter the Middle East market.