GSO Signs Technical Cooperation Agreement with the European Committee for Standards on Medical Devices (CEN/TC 105)

Riyadh, 22 October 2025
The GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), represented by the Gulf Technical Committee for Medical Devices and Supplies (GSO/TC 11), has signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement with The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) represented by the European Technical Committee for Non-active Medical Devices (CEN/TC 105 – Non-active Medical Devices).
The agreement aims to strengthen technical and scientific cooperation in the areas of standards development, exchange of expertise, and capacity building across several fields of mutual interest.
The scope of cooperation covers the development of standards for blood pressure measuring devices, thermometers, catheters, medical needles and syringes, medical and surgical gloves, medical and respiratory masks, wound dressings, and products used for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, among other non-active medical devices.
This agreement reflects GSO’s ongoing efforts to build strong partnerships with regional and international standardization organizations. It also reaffirms the leading role of the Gulf Technical Committee for Medical Devices and Supplies (GSO/TC 11), which has achieved outstanding results in recent years. The committee ranked first place among all Gulf technical and subcommittees and working groups (49 in total) for three consecutive years — 2022, 2023, and 2024 — in recognition of its contributions to developing unified Gulf standards and enhancing regional integration in the field of medical devices and supplies.
To date, GSO has signed five similar Technical Cooperation Agreements aligning Gulf technical committees with their European counterparts, including:
• GSO/TC 07 (GSO Technical Committee for Oil and Gas) with the European Committee CEN/TC 12
• GSO/TC 14 (GSO Technical Committee for children’s supplies and toys) with the European Committee CEN/TC 52
• GSO/TC 03 (GSO Technical Committee for Heat Pumps and Air Conditioning Equipment) with the European Committee CEN/TC 113
• GSO/TC 02 (GSO Technical Committee for Plastics and Rubber) with the European Committee CEN/TC 145
• GBC-TC-FF (GSO Technical Committee for Gulf Building Code – Fire Fighting) with the European Committee CEN/TC 127
Through these agreements, GSO seeks to enhance the alignment between Gulf and international standards, support the regional quality infrastructure, and promote capacity building, knowledge exchange, and technical harmonization. These efforts aim to improve product quality, protect consumers, and contribute to sustainable development, in line with GSO’s mission to elevate safety and quality standards across member states in cooperation with partner organizations.