Effervescent tubes, cubes and sachets for importers in the Gulf and North Africa

The production group behind FIZZPHARMA counts the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon among its main markets and works with buyers worldwide; FIZZPHARMA delivers worldwide, Africa included. Each document is described on certificates and batch documents.

What documents does an EU manufacturer give an importer for Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt?

FIZZPHARMA gives the importer a Certificate of Analysis and a specification with every batch, and copies of the site's ISO 22000:2018, GMP and HACCP certificates with their numbers on request. The Certificate of Free Sale, the Certificate of Manufacture, the apostille and the consular legalisation are arranged where the country of sale asks for them.

Each authority lists its own papers. The food-sector guide of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA, July 2024) lists, among others, a free sale certificate and a stability study based on the proposed shelf life, with a shelf life of up to five years. The UAE route through the Emirates Drug Establishment (EDE) lists a free sale certificate certified by the UAE embassy, the composition, copies of the packs and a halal certificate.

Send the list of papers your importer has asked for with your enquiry. The reply, within 24 hours, Monday to Friday, states how each paper is arranged.

What does each country ask for, and who files the registration?

The importer or a local applicant files the registration in these markets, and FIZZPHARMA supplies the batch documents, the pack and the site certificates for the file. The table shows each country's authority, label language and document route as reviewed on 9 to 13 October 2026.

WHO's list of stability conditions (March 2021, Technical Report Series 953, Annex 2, Appendix 1) is written for medicines, so for supplements it is a reference and not law. The zone names in the last column are assigned from each condition after WHO Technical Report Series 1010, Annex 10. Square brackets mark an estimate by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), which your importer confirms with the regulator. An apostille works between two parties unless one has objected to the other's accession.

How do I import supplements into Saudi Arabia from an EU manufacturer?

Your importer settles the route with the SFDA and files; FIZZPHARMA supplies the documents; you approve the sample and the Arabic label; production starts from 4 weeks and the goods ship EXW, FCA or DAP. Your importer confirms who files with the SFDA, and the approval is the authority's decision.

1. Route. Your importer settles with the SFDA whether the product goes through its food sector or its drug sector.
2. Papers. You send FIZZPHARMA the importer's list with the enquiry.
3. Sample, then label. You approve the sample first and the label artwork second; nothing is produced before both approvals.
4. Production and shipment. Tablets and sachets take from 4 weeks, with transport and customs on top; the CoA and the specification travel with the goods.

See how an order works and minimum order and lead time.

Which language and which dates go on the pack for the Gulf and Egypt?

Saudi Arabia asks for Arabic, with any other language alongside and identical in content; Egypt asks for Arabic and English on the outer and the inner pack for products the EDA registers. FIZZPHARMA designs the label and the pack, or checks yours, and prints them at the plant in the language of the country of sale.

Under the food rules of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as summarised by the US Department of Agriculture, production and expiry dates go on the pack or its original label in indelible ink, and dates carried only by a sticker are not accepted. Your importer confirms which dates the pack shows and in which format.

According to the TelQuel report of 27 July 2026, Morocco puts the registration number and the importer's name and address on the imported pack, so leave room for them in the artwork. Name the country of sale in your enquiry before the artwork is laid out.

Do Gulf importers need a halal certificate?

The EDE list for the UAE names a halal certificate from a certified body, and the SFDA's food clearance requirements, uploaded in April 2025, ask for a halal certificate for food products that need one and for evidence behind any halal logo. FIZZPHARMA arranges a halal certificate for each batch of your product when your market needs it.

Either a certifying company visits the plant, or an auditor is present at the production of the batch; you choose on your request. More on halal and the other batch documents.

How does the 2026 sugar tax in Saudi Arabia and the UAE affect an effervescent drink product?

Since 1 January 2026 Saudi Arabia taxes sweetened drinks by the sugar in 100 ml of the ready drink: zero below 5 g, SAR 0.79 per litre from 5 to 7.99 g and SAR 1.09 per litre from 8 g, with drinks sweetened only by artificial sweeteners at zero. Powders and concentrates count as prepared by the pack instructions.

The tiers replace a flat 50% of the retail price in Saudi Arabia. EY Global Tax News reported on 3 December 2025 that a GCC committee decision of 8 October 2025 stands behind them. Gulf News reported on 7 January 2026 that the UAE applies the same tiers, and that an artificially sweetened 330 ml cola fell from about Dh 2.50 to Dh 1.65 to 1.70 while cheap sugary drinks rose 20 to 40%. WHO counted at least 116 countries taxing sugary drinks in January 2026.

The can and bottle figures are worked out from the per-litre rates.

The tax follows the recipe, so the sugar target per 100 ml of the prepared drink goes into the brief first. A cube or a sachet is a dry format, and the dilution printed on the pack sets the grams per 100 ml; changing the dilution later means changing the pack. FIZZPHARMA develops a sample to your brief, and you approve it before production. Your importer confirms the current rate with the Saudi tax authority.

Whether stevia counts as an artificial sweetener for the zero tier is an open question for the authority, because the published wording says artificial sweeteners. A recipe under 5 g of sugar per 100 ml is at zero on sugar alone. Get a written ruling before the formula is fixed. The full guide, with South Africa and the UK, is the sugar tax article.

Which pack does each format use on a hot, humid route?

A plastic tube with a moisture-absorbing cap for effervescent tablets, because the formula reacts with moisture; a blister of its own for each drink cube; a paper, aluminium foil and film laminate for a powder sachet. Send the destination and the format, and the reply gives the minimum and the production time.

The standard tube holds 20 tablets of 4 g and carries your brand, printed at the plant. Each cube blister is closed with a foil that carries the brand, and the brand also goes on the outer box. A sachet holds 4 to 12 g, with the brand printed directly on the paper layer.

One route is not one climate. WHO lists Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt at 30 °C and 65% relative humidity (zone IVa) and Morocco and Tunisia at 25 °C and 60% (zone II); for Algeria it shows only an IFPMA estimate of 25 °C and 60%. The hotter, more humid condition, 30 °C and 75% (zone IVb), is described in WHO's Technical Report Series 1010, Annex 10. The list is written for medicines, so use it as a yardstick for the talk with your importer, who confirms the storage condition for your route.

The pack is the barrier against moisture while the goods sit at a port or in an importer's warehouse, and each extra week adds exposure. The tube page, the drink cube page and the sachet page describe each pack.

What does your product decide?

Each line shows what your choice costs in time or in risk.

Frequently asked questions

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Certificates and batch documents · Minimum order and lead time · How an order works · Effervescent tablets in tubes · Drink cubes · Powder sachets · West Africa · Latin America · Sugar tax guide · Questions buyers ask