14 Supplier SDS Documents. None in Arabic. One Week to Fix It.

A Dubai-based distributor importing professional cleaning chemicals from a European manufacturer for resale into hospitality and facilities-management customers across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

A container of 14 products arrived in Jebel Ali with full German-language SDS. The customer in Riyadh required Arabic SDS aligned with GHS and SFDA expectations before the stock could be released from their bonded warehouse.

The supplier could not produce Arabic documentation. The distributor needed it done independently — and fast — or face demurrage charges and a stalled launch.

1. 1

   Day 1–2 — Translation & technical review

   Worked from the original German SDS rather than auto-translating. A native Arabic-speaking regulatory writer paired with a German-reading chemist to preserve technical meaning, not just words.

2. 2

   Day 3–4 — GHS re-mapping

   Re-mapped each classification to the GHS building blocks adopted by SFDA, including category-by-category review of skin and eye irritation thresholds where CLP and SFDA diverge.

3. 3

   Day 5 — Section 8 & 14 localisation

   Replaced German occupational exposure references with the closest applicable GCC standards. Added IMDG transport classifications alongside the existing ADR data.

4. 4

   Day 6 — Arabic typesetting & QA

   Typeset all 14 SDS in right-to-left Arabic with correct hazard pictograms and signal words. QA reviewed by a second Arabic-speaking specialist.

5. 5

   Day 7 — Delivery

   Delivered final Arabic SDS pack plus an English reference set for the distributor's own internal use. Stock cleared the bonded warehouse within 48 hours of submission.