In accordance with the new Standards Organization of Nigerian (SON) regulations for E-Certification, the following process applies to exporters and importers looking to ship to Nigeria.
1. The Exporter/Importer would still manually request a Product Certification (PC) for their items of import through IAFs (International Accreditation Firms such as Cotecna) from the exporting country.
2. Upon the issuance of the PC, the IAF transmits the certificate to the SON portal and the importer can activate the certificate on the Federal Government of Nigeria Single Window for Trade portal with the PC number indicated on the certificate.
3. Upon the activation of the PC, the importer’s bank can access the certificate and then upload and attach it to the e-Form M.
4. Once the e-Form M is approved, the SONCAP Certification process can then commence with the exporter sending a copy of the e-Form M (indicating the BA number, Registered TIN number, RC number, Bill of Lading number and Final Invoice number) to the IAF requesting a SONCAP Certificate.
5. The SONCAP certificate once issued can be activated with the certificate number.
6. On the completion of step 5, the importer starts the online processing of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) for the consignment and input their SONCAP certificate number.
For more information about the e-Certification process please click here.
If you have any questions regarding this process, please don't hesitate to contact us.