Saudi Feed Act & Regulation — Licensing, Registration, Prohibited Handling & Penalties (SFDA)
Source: Feed Act & Regulation, Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), promulgated by SFDA Board Decision No (2-16-1439) on 27 Dec 2017. Official English translation published by SFDA.
This topic covers the core obligations and enforcement mechanism of the Saudi Feed Act: what "Feed" is, the SFDA licensing gate for feed businesses, mandatory product registration, the bar on handling prohibited/unregistered feed, and the penalty regime. (Note: the English text is an SFDA translation; the Arabic original prevails on discrepancy — captured here as a first-hand SFDA document.)
Definitions
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
Feed: any approved (single or multiple) material of animal or plant origin or from aquatic animals, whether processed, semi-processed, raw, or a material introduced into feed manufacturing, preparation or treatment, which is intended for oral animal feeding.(EN: "Feed" definition — any animal/plant/aquatic material intended for oral animal feeding.)
Licensing of feed-business activities (Article 4)
An SFDA licence is required before starting any feed-business activity (except activities within the agricultural field); the licence is valid 3 years and renewable on 90 days' notice.
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
This regulation shall establish the conditions and requirements, which must be met prior to obtaining an SFDA license to start any feed business activities, apart from activities within the agricultural field.(EN: SFDA licence required to commence feed-business activities, excluding purely agricultural-field activities.)The license shall be valid for 3 years.(EN: Licence validity — 3 years.)The license may be extended for a similar period or successive periods upon an advance notice of 90 days from the termination date.(EN: Licence may be extended on 90 days' advance notice.)Importation and exportation.(EN: Licensed activities include importation and exportation — Article 4.1(a).)
Import / export approval (Article 5)
To obtain SFDA approval to release imported feed, the establishment must hold a valid import licence and the product must be registered in SFDA.
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
The establishment subject to the approval shall have a valid import license.(EN: Importer must hold a valid import licence — Article 5.1(a).)The products or additives subject to the approval shall be registered in SFDA.(EN: The imported product/additive must be registered in SFDA — Article 5.1(b).)
Mandatory registration before handling (Article 12.1)
Feed may not be handled unless it is registered in SFDA.
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
Feeds shall not be handled unless they are registered in SFDA.(EN: No feed may be handled unless registered in SFDA — Article 12.1(a).)
Prohibited handling (Article 15)
Feeds and feed ingredients shall not be handled where, inter alia, they are not registered in SFDA.
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
Feeds and feed ingredients, subject to the following, shall not be handled(EN: Bar on handling feeds/ingredients meeting the listed conditions — Article 15.)They are not registered in SFDA.(EN: One prohibited condition — the feed is not registered in SFDA — Article 15(6).)
Penalties (Article 32)
Violations are punishable by fines, licence suspension/revocation, and — for deliberate handling of injurious/fraudulent/prohibited feed — imprisonment up to 10 years or fines of S.R. 1M–10M, with appeal rights.
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
A fine no exceeding S.R. one million (1,000,000).(EN: Base penalty — fine up to S.R. 1,000,000 — Article 32.1(a).)If the contravention involves deliberate handling of feed which is injurious to health, fraudulent, or prohibited, the offense is punishable by imprisonment for 10 years at most, or a fine between S.R. one – ten million (1,000,000 – 10,000,000), or by both, in addition to the provisions stated above in subsection 1 (a, and b).(EN: Aggravated penalty — up to 10 years' imprisonment or S.R. 1M–10M fine for deliberate handling of injurious/fraudulent/prohibited feed — Article 32.3.)Revocation of the license issued by SFDA.(EN: Penalty includes revocation of the SFDA-issued licence — Article 32.2.)The person to whom a penalty notice is issued has the right to appeal to the panel described below in (8) of this Article, within sixty days from date of notice.(EN: Right to appeal within 60 days — Article 32.7.)