ECAS certificate and Emirates Quality Mark

An ECAS certificate is the certificate of conformity issued under the Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme, run by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), for products in a UAE regulated group: low-voltage electrical equipment, energy-labelled appliances, toys, cosmetics, detergents, textiles, tyres and lubricants, each governed by its own Cabinet resolution. It is issued per product to a UAE-registered applicant, in most cases the importer, and runs for one year. The Emirates Quality Mark (EQM) is a separate MoIAT licence that adds a factory audit, lasts three years with annual surveillance, and is voluntary except where a resolution makes it mandatory, as for bottled drinking water.

Which products need an ECAS certificate?

Only products in a group that a UAE Cabinet resolution has placed under a control scheme. The groups exporters meet most often: low-voltage electrical equipment and household appliances, tested to the UAE.S IEC 60335 series; appliances under the energy-efficiency labelling programme (air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, lighting); electrical and electronic devices within Cabinet Resolution No. 10 of 2017 on hazardous substances (the UAE RoHS); toys, assessed to the GSO EN 71 series; cosmetics and personal-care products to UAE.S GSO 1943; detergents under Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2024; textiles under Cabinet Resolution No. 54 of 2019; tyres; and lubricants.

Each scheme names its own standards and its own evidence. For electrical goods that means test reports from an ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory, in most cases a CB scheme report; for cosmetics it means the formulation, a safety assessment and the label against GSO 1943. A product outside every resolution needs no certificate, and MoIAT will not issue one for it.

What exporters search for as "ECAS certification UAE" is this certificate. It is issued to a UAE-registered applicant and names the product, the standard and that applicant. A manufacturer supplying two UAE distributors ends up with two certificates. Customs asks for the certificate at clearance, and the applicant named on it has to be the party importing, so a certificate held by one distributor does not clear a container consigned to another.

What does the Emirates Quality Mark add?

A factory. EQM assesses the product against the same standards as ECAS and then audits the manufacturing site and its quality management system, with ISO 9001 as the reference. The licence lasts three years, surveillance follows every year, and the mark goes on the product itself. ECAS ends at the certificate.

EQM is voluntary for most groups and mandatory where a Cabinet resolution says so; bottled drinking water and natural mineral water are the clearest case. Where it is voluntary the reason to apply is a tender: government procurement specifications in the UAE often list the mark as a condition. EQM does not replace ECAS. A product in a regulated group still needs its ECAS certificate whether or not it carries the mark.

Does ECAS cover radio, halal and the Gulf mark?

No. Any product with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a cellular modem or another transmitter also needs type approval from the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), registered to a UAE dealer. It is a separate filing with its own dealer registration, and it is outside what WWBridge provides. Scope analysis identifies it early so the importer can arrange the filing in parallel; ECAS never covers the radio side.

Halal is separate as well: food, and cosmetics with animal derivatives, need a certificate from a body registered with MoIAT under the UAE halal control system. Low-voltage appliances and toys additionally fall under the Gulf-wide G-Mark regulations, GSO BD-142004-01 and BD-131704-01, which are assessed by a GSO-notified body. One appliance can need ECAS, G-Mark and TDRA at once, and each is applied for on its own.

Which scheme does what

These are not alternatives. A connected kitchen appliance needs the first, third and fourth rows, and each is a separate application to a different body.