Six markets,
read properly

The comparison most providers will not publish

Because it shows that the two most obvious markets to enter together demand structurally opposite arrangements — and that a European certificate is worth a great deal in one and nothing at all in the other.

All six rows are traced to the regulators' own publications and dated. Egypt's was corrected in September 2026 — we had previously reported the registration as non-transferable on the strength of secondary sources, and the regulator publishes a transfer procedure. Where a regulator publishes nothing, the cell says so rather than borrowing a number. Put your own device through the fees →

The Gulf is not one market

Both facts are ordinary once you know them. Together they mean that a single regional distributor agreement covering "the GCC" — which is what most manufacturers are offered first — cannot be right for both countries at once. It will either breach the Emirati requirement or fail the Saudi confirmation.

The second row is just as consequential in the opposite direction. If you hold a CE certificate or an FDA clearance, the UAE file is substantially assembled already, while Saudi Arabia will assess your technical documentation from first principles regardless. That single difference usually decides which market goes first — and it is the reverse of what most people assume.

Which market to do first

Almost every manufacturer names its first market before it has the information to choose one. Answer five questions and the panel will give you an order — or tell you that the honest answer is "not yet". Nothing is sent anywhere; this runs in your browser.

The reasoning, in full, for devices — these are the questions that actually decide the order, and none of them is about market size. For medicines the questions are different in kind: not what mark you carry, but which authority is named on which list, and what the market will be allowed to pay you. Each medicines page opens with its own.

1. What conformity certificate do you hold?

   The single strongest determinant of cost and speed.

   A current CE certificate or FDA clearance makes the UAE substantially cheaper and faster, because the certificate is part of the file. UKCA only changes the order rather than closing it: it is not named in the Emirati document list and never appeared on any Saudi list, but Egypt names it outright in a dedicated instrument. For a UKCA-only manufacturer Egypt is the opening, not the afterthought.

2. Is someone already asking to distribute for you?

   An inbound approach changes the order, but not always in the way you would like.

   If a distributor has approached you, the urgent question is whose name goes on the registration. In markets where the authorisation cannot be transferred, signing before that is settled hands them your market access permanently. This is worth two weeks of assessment before it is worth a signature.

3. What is your device's risk class?

   It changes the evidence burden more than it changes the fee.

   Higher classes attract additional safety and efficacy requirements and a heavier dossier. If your portfolio spans classes, there is usually a sensible first product that opens the relationship, the licences and the representative — after which the rest of the range is incremental rather than a new project.

4. Are you selling to public tenders?

   The registration is a precondition, not the objective.

   Tender cycles are annual and unforgiving. If your commercial route runs through public procurement, the timeline works backwards from the tender, and that frequently reorders the markets — a registration that lands two months after the submission window is a year wasted.

5. How many markets can you actually service?

   The honest constraint, and the one most often ignored.

   Every authorisation brings renewals, variations, vigilance reporting and a local relationship to maintain. Two markets done properly beat five registered and neglected — and a lapsed registration costs more to restore than it did to obtain.

Published, and in preparation

And now, medicines

The six pages above are medical devices. Below are the same six regulators read for medicines — and for a UK company the answer comes out close to inverted: the MHRA is named in four of the six, where UKCA is named in one. The comparative article is here →

What "verified" means on this site

Every figure on a market page is traced to the regulator's own publication, with the document name and version where one exists, and the date we last checked it. Where a regulator does not publish something openly — and several do not — we say so on the page and confirm it with the authority during an assessment, rather than repeating a plausible number from a consultancy blog.

We re-check each page quarterly and after any circular or resolution affecting devices. It is a slower way to build a website. It is the only way to build one a regulatory affairs manager can quote internally without checking it first.