Article 8 of the Saudi Product Safety Law

المادة 8 من نظام سلامة المنتجات · الباب الثالث: التزامات السلامة العامة

The possibility of achieving higher levels of safety, or of obtaining another less hazardous product, is not sufficient by itself for considering a product unsafe.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

لا تعد إمكانية تحقيق مستويات أعلى من السلامة للمنتج، أو إمكانية الحصول على منتج آخر أقل خطرًا؛ سببًا كافيًا لاعتبار المنتج غير آمن.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 8 explained in plain English

This article places a limit on judging a product to be unsafe: it prevents a product from being considered unsafe merely because of either of two reasons:

The possibility of achieving higher levels of safety for this product.
The possibility of obtaining another, less hazardous product.

The practical meaning is that comparison with safer products, or with the possibility of improving the product, is not alone a standard for judgment. The product is judged by looking at it, not by comparing it with another or with what it might have been had it been improved. This gives a degree of certainty to economic operators, since their product is not considered unsafe merely because a better one appears on the market.

Note that the text says "sufficient reason", meaning these two things are not enough alone, but it does not prevent looking at the product from other angles. The article works with Article 7, which sets the elements taken into account in assessing safety, such as the product's properties, instructions, warnings, the consumer exposed to the hazard and the consumer's legitimate expectations.

Article 9 follows, setting the obligations of the manufacturer, the authorized representative and the importer responsible for placing the product on the markets, including making sure that the product is safe or presumed to be safe.

Practical example

A company in Jeddah sells a bicycle helmet that complies with the relevant technical regulation, while a more expensive model on the market offers higher protection. The existence of the higher model is not by itself enough to consider the company's helmet unsafe.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

How we write and review content

Commercial & Corporate Law lawyers: ask a specialist about your case

Describe your situation briefly and we'll suggest a lawyer who specialises in this law