Lead time is the time period required to finish an approval process. This usually covers overall time required to issue the certificate from start to finish. In Egypt Type Approval, lead time can be varied depending on the product types.
If the products are classified as Mobile Phone / Cellular Tablet, Cellular Repeaters, or DECT Phone, lead time can be longer. The reason is because these products are considered as high-risk and it requires applicant to submit samples for local test. For this local test, usually the time depends on some aspects such as the queue happens in the testing lab and smoothness of testing process itself. Therefore, the time can be extended to several weeks.
But, if the product is not classified as Mobile Phone / Cellular Tablet, Cellular Repeaters, or DECT Phone, the lead time to finish Egypt type approval will be about 14 days. This lead time is possible because the process is paperwork only. 14 working days is started from the date of Type Approval fees being paid, or after the product has passed its evaluation and documents revision, so the application can be accepted. With document preparation and application queue, the overall lead time to get Egypt Type Approval certificate would be around 4-5 weeks.
Besides lead time, another important topic is validity period of the certificate. Certificate validity really matters in order to keep the product reliable for use and sale especially in Egypt. That’s why as a manufacturer, distributor, or importer of the product, we need to keep the compliance certificate to be valid for as long as the product circling in the market. Because if the compliance certificate is declared as invalid, it’s too risky for the product to be recalled by the authority or being prohibited to sell.
For the case of Egypt type approval, validity period of compliance certificate is permanent. In other words, once the certificate is issued, it will remain valid forever and no renewal is required. That’s why the product can be used or sold within Egypt territory for as long as the manufacturer wants. However, if there’s any technical modification or change of product information, it must be reported to the authority to get their confirmation whether updates or recertification is required or not.
Why We Care
When starting Egypt type approval certification process, lead time may be the biggest question in mind. That’s indeed, lead time is a very important aspect in the process. By knowing the lead time, we can create the accurate forecast to see when the product is expected to be available in the market. So, the buyer can expect when they can receive the product for use. Besides lead time, we also need to manage the validity of Egypt Type Approval certificate that we have. This is important so that the product can be used or sold in the country for as long as possible. But for country that allow permanent validity like Egypt, it will certainly be easier because we don’t need to monitor the validity. Once the product is certified, no renewal is needed.