SONCAP is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme — Nigeria's check that regulated products meet its standards before arrival. It covers commercial imports of electronics, vehicles, toys, chemicals and building materials. Personal effects are generally outside it.
SONCAP is one of those acronyms that appears halfway through a shipping conversation and quietly worries everybody. It is less mysterious than it sounds: Nigeria wants to know that regulated goods meet its standards before they turn up at the port, so certification happens in the country the goods are leaving from.
What it actually stands for
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme. SON is the standards body; SONCAP is the programme through which imported regulated products are assessed. The point is pre-shipment verification — catching a non-compliant consignment while it is still in the UK rather than after it has crossed an ocean.
What falls inside it
- Electrical and electronic products
- Automotive products and vehicles
- Toys and children's products
- Chemicals and related goods
- Many building and construction materials
Food, drugs and cosmetics are not SON's territory — those sit with NAFDAC, a different agency with a different process. People routinely conflate the two; if you are sending consumables, NAFDAC is the name that matters.
When it does not apply to you
For most people reading this, it does not. SONCAP is built for commercial importation. A family sending a barrel of clothing and provisions, or a laptop to a relative, is not making a regulated import.
What shifts a shipment across that line is quantity and intent. One television among household effects reads as personal. Fifteen identical televisions reads as stock, whoever is named on the paperwork.
How the process is shaped
In outline: the product is assessed against the relevant standard and a product-level certificate is issued; that supports a shipment-level certificate which is presented at clearance. Which route applies — and how much testing sits behind it — depends on the product and how established it is.
We are deliberately not publishing a step-by-step here, because the detail and the accredited bodies change, and a stale procedure is worse than none. If your shipment needs it, ask us and we will point you at what currently applies.
Vehicles: two rules, not one
Vehicles sit inside the regulated scope, and they carry a second, harder constraint: nothing more than 12 years old from the year of manufacture can be imported at all. That one has no certification workaround — see duty on used cars before you buy anything.
Where it sits alongside duty
Certification and duty are separate things that both happen at import. SONCAP is about whether the goods are allowed and compliant; duty is about what you pay on them. A properly certified shipment still attracts duty, and a duty-paid shipment still needs certification if it is regulated.
Guidance last reviewed August 2026. Nigeria's standards and import rules change — treat this as orientation rather than a compliance document, and confirm the current requirements with us before shipping regulated goods commercially.
Common questions
What is SONCAP?
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme. It is Nigeria's way of checking that regulated products meet its standards before they arrive, rather than after. Certification is arranged in the exporting country — so for UK shipments, before the goods leave.
Do personal effects need SONCAP?
Generally no. The scheme is aimed at commercial imports of regulated products. Household goods and personal items travelling as personal effects are not what it was built for — though quantity is what decides how a shipment is read.
What products need SONCAP?
Broadly, regulated manufactured goods: electrical and electronic products, automotive products and vehicles, toys, chemicals, and many building and construction materials. Food, drugs and cosmetics sit with NAFDAC instead, not SON.
How does the certification work?
In outline, the product is assessed against the relevant standard and a product-level certificate is issued, which then supports a shipment-level SONCAP certificate used at clearance. The detail depends on the product and the route, so confirm the current process before you ship commercially.
What happens if I ship without it?
Regulated commercial goods arriving without valid certification can be refused clearance, which means storage charges accruing while it is resolved — and sometimes it cannot be resolved after the fact. Certification is arranged before shipping for exactly this reason.
Does SONCAP apply to a used car?
Vehicles fall within the regulated scope, and separately must be no more than 12 years old from manufacture. Tell us the make, model and year and we will confirm what applies before you commit to buying.