Saudi Arabia Updates Washing Machine Energy & Water Efficiency Standards

RIYADH, April 2026 — Effective 1 May 2026, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) will enforce revised energy efficiency labeling (SASO 2663:2026) and water efficiency classification (SASO 2864:2026) requirements for commercial laundry equipment. The changes directly affect exporters and supply chain actors serving the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market, particularly those shipping tunnel washers, commercial dishwashers, and kitchen laundry systems into Saudi Arabia. The shift stems from SASO’s broader regulatory modernization agenda to align with international sustainability benchmarks and tighten post-market compliance oversight.

Event Overview

Starting 1 May 2026, SASO mandates that all applicable commercial laundry and dishwashing equipment must be certified under the updated standards SASO 2663:2026 (energy efficiency labeling) and SASO 2864:2026 (water efficiency grading). Testing must follow newly defined cycle procedures — including modified load configurations, temperature profiles, and rinse frequency parameters — specific to each equipment category. Products lacking a valid SASO Certificate of Conformity (CoC) issued under these new protocols will be denied customs clearance. Crucially, previously issued test reports based on legacy versions (e.g., SASO 2663:2018 or SASO 2864:2020) are no longer accepted for CoC issuance or re-evaluation.

Industries Affected

Direct Trading Enterprises
Exporters and distributors placing commercial laundry equipment into the Saudi market face immediate operational impact. Compliance is now a gatekeeping requirement for market access — not a pre-shipment formality. Affected firms must secure new CoCs before shipment; existing inventory without compliant certification cannot enter the country post-1 May 2026. Additionally, lead times for certification have increased due to lab capacity constraints and unfamiliarity with the new test cycles, compressing order-to-delivery windows.

Raw Material Procurement Entities
Suppliers of critical components — such as high-efficiency motors, precision flow control valves, and low-temperature heating elements — are seeing demand shifts. The revised test cycles emphasize performance under partial-load conditions and repeated thermal cycling, increasing technical specifications for parts related to energy modulation and water metering accuracy. Procurement teams must now verify supplier documentation against SASO 2864:2026’s water volume tolerance thresholds (±3% per cycle), not just nominal ratings.

Manufacturing Enterprises
OEMs and contract manufacturers must revise product validation protocols. The new SASO test methods require equipment to undergo up to four distinct wash-dry-rinse sequences within a single test run — differing significantly from prior IEC-based harmonized tests. This affects firmware logic, sensor calibration, and mechanical durability design. Factories exporting to Saudi Arabia can no longer rely on EU CE or US DOE test data; dedicated SASO-accredited laboratory testing is mandatory.

Supply Chain Service Providers
Testing laboratories, certification bodies, and local SASO representative offices report surging inquiry volumes. However, only labs accredited under SASO’s updated ILAC-MRA scope for SASO 2663:2026 and SASO 2864:2026 may issue valid reports. Third-party logistics providers must now verify CoC validity *before* booking Saudi-bound shipments — a change from prior practice where documentation was checked upon arrival. Non-compliant consignments risk detention at Jeddah Islamic Port or King Abdulaziz Port, incurring storage and rework fees.

Key Focus Areas and Recommended Actions

Validate Existing Test Reports Against New Cycle Parameters

Manufacturers should cross-check prior test reports against the exact wash sequence definitions in Annex A of SASO 2864:2026 — especially dwell time, spin speed ramp profiles, and final rinse temperature stability. Even minor deviations invalidate reuse potential.

Engage SASO-Accredited Labs Early — Not Just Before Shipment

Due to limited lab capacity and mandatory pre-test consultation with SASO’s Technical Committee on Appliances, firms should initiate testing no later than 12 weeks before planned export. Pilot runs using actual production units (not prototypes) are strongly advised to avoid retesting.

Update Technical Documentation for Local Representation

SASO CoC applications now require Arabic-language operation manuals explicitly referencing the new test cycles, plus bilingual labeling showing both energy class (A–G) and water class (1–5) per SASO 2663:2026 Table 3 and SASO 2864:2026 Table 2. Generic multilingual labels are insufficient.

Review Warranty and After-Sales Protocols

The new standards introduce stricter field performance tolerances. Manufacturers should assess whether current warranty terms cover recalibration or component replacement triggered by non-compliance with SASO 2864:2026’s real-world water consumption verification clause (Clause 7.2).

Editorial Perspective / Industry Observation

Observably, this revision reflects SASO’s strategic pivot from baseline conformance to lifecycle-aligned performance enforcement. Unlike earlier iterations, SASO 2864:2026 introduces pass/fail criteria tied to *actual measured consumption across variable loads*, not just rated values. Analysis shows that over 35% of currently certified commercial tunnel washers — based on preliminary benchmarking by GCC-accredited labs — would fail the new full-cycle water volume repeatability test. This suggests the regulation functions less as a labeling update and more as a de facto market filter. From an industry standpoint, the timing — coinciding with Saudi Vision 2030’s industrial localization targets — indicates deliberate pressure to accelerate domestic R&D investment in smart water management subsystems.

Conclusion

This regulatory update marks a material escalation in technical market access requirements for commercial laundry equipment in Saudi Arabia. It signals a broader regional trend toward performance-based, test-method-specific compliance — moving beyond generic ‘eco-label’ claims. For global suppliers, adaptation is not optional; it demands synchronized updates across engineering, procurement, certification, and documentation functions. A rational reading suggests that early adopters who treat this as a product development catalyst — rather than a compliance hurdle — stand to gain competitive advantage in both Saudi and wider GCC markets.

Source Attribution

Official texts: SASO Standard No. 2663:2026 “Energy Labelling Requirements for Household and Similar Electric Washing Machines” and SASO Standard No. 2864:2026 “Water Efficiency Classification for Commercial Laundry and Dishwashing Equipment”, published 15 November 2025, effective 1 May 2026.
Implementation guidance: SASO Circular No. SASO/TC/APP/2025/089 (issued 22 December 2025).
Further observation required: Potential extension of SASO 2864:2026 methodology to residential appliances (currently under public consultation); possible alignment timelines with UAE ESMA and Kuwait KOWSME standards.