| Element | On the lidding foil | On the carton | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your brand | Yes | Yes | Our layout for the carton, or artwork you already have |
| Product name and dose form | As your artwork sets | Yes | One blister holds one kind of tablet or capsule |
| Batch number and expiry date | On the carton | Expiry date printed with the carton or applied at cartoning, never a sticker; standard shelf life 24 months | |
| Languages | As your artwork sets | As the country of sale requires | Your importer confirms; see Arabic and French packaging |
| Importer's name and address | On the carton; your importer confirms whether the foil needs it | Text from your importer; Egypt (EDA) and, per a press report, Morocco | |
| Registration or licence number | On the carton; your importer confirms whether the foil needs it | Text from your importer once issued; Egypt (EDA), and Morocco, Lebanon and Nigeria per the sources below | |
| Price | On the carton, where the market asks | Egypt: on the outer pack | |
| Halal logo | Only once the product holds a halal certificate | Saudi Arabia asks for proof behind any halal logo; the UAE accepts only its national mark | |
| Statement that the product is made under contract | Your importer confirms | Where the market asks | Ghana's FDA guideline of 2013 asks the label to state it; agree the wording with your importer |
Several sources are food rules; your importer confirms them for your product.
Who lays out the artwork, and can I use my own?
We lay out and print the carton to the label rules of your market, which your importer confirms, and print the lidding foil with your brand. Artwork you already have can be used instead.
Filing the product with the regulator is a step for the brand owner or your importer, not for us.
When do I approve the artwork?
After the sample and before print. Of the seven steps of an order, artwork is the third: you approve the sample first, then the artwork for the carton and the lidding foil, and only the approved version goes to print.
What goes on the lidding foil, and what on the carton?
The foil is printed for your brand, and what else it carries is set in your artwork. The batch number, the expiry date and the rest of the market's text go on the carton, unless your importer says the foil needs part of it. A blister holds one kind of tablet or capsule.
Egypt. For a product the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) registers, the product name, the pharmaceutical form and the company name or logo are enough where the inner cover is made from aluminium; your importer confirms that this covers the lidding foil. The EDA's list for the outer pack, in Arabic and English, includes the registration number, batch number, production and expiry dates, and price.
Where do the batch number and the dates go?
On the carton. The expiry date is printed with the carton or applied as the blisters go into it, never stuck on as a sticker, and the standard shelf life is 24 months.
In the US Department of Agriculture's summaries of food rules for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, production and expiry dates go directly on the packages or on the producer's original label (Saudi Arabia) or on the original label or primary packaging (the UAE), and for a shelf life over three months, month and year are enough. Your importer confirms which dates the carton must show, and their format.
Can a sticker fix the label after the goods arrive?
Often not, so plan for the whole text to be in the print. In the import rules we read, all written for food:
- Saudi Arabia: stickers for production and expiry dates are not permissible; Arabic text on a supplementary sticker is one sticker, provided by the manufacturer, designed and printed.
- The UAE: dates printed only on stickers are not accepted; one Arabic sticker is accepted if it is applied before export and approved by the UAE authorities.
- Tanzania: the use of stick-on labels is strictly prohibited.
- Nigeria: stick-on labels are permitted "provided they don't remove easily", and a foreign label is applied before export.
- Morocco: an Arabic sticker may be added after arrival with the approval of ONSSA, the food safety office, if the importer shows the supplier cannot print Arabic.
Your importer confirms what applies to a supplement. On our cartons, the market's text is part of the print.
Where do the importer's details and the registration number go?
On the carton. The text comes from your importer, and a registration number exists only once the product is registered, so plan room for it before you approve the artwork.
- Egypt: for an imported product, the EDA asks for an undertaking to add the importer's name, address and telephone number in Arabic, the price and the registration number.
- Morocco: the registration number and the importer's name and address on the imported pack, according to a July 2026 press report citing ONSSA.
- Lebanon: the number and date of the Ministry of Public Health licence issued to the manufacturer or the importer, on every supplement label; your importer confirms the rule is in force.
- Nigeria: the NAFDAC number on the label, in a US government summary of processed food import rules.
Which machine limits does the artwork work within?
The Uhlmann B 1240 has a forming area of up to 128 × 156.5 mm per cycle, and the IMA IC 150 takes cartons from 28 × 12 × 55 mm to 92 × 60 × 190 mm (width × height × length), according to the machine documentation. A carton holds 1 to 4 blisters.
What your product decides
Each line shows the cost in time or risk.
| Your market or artwork | What changes | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| A market that refuses stick-on labels or date stickers, as the food rules of Tanzania and Saudi Arabia do, or dates printed only on stickers, as the UAE's do | All the text and the dates are part of the print | Risk: a mistake found after print cannot be patched, so the artwork has to be final when you approve it |
| A market that wants a registration number or the importer's details on the pack: Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon or Nigeria | Text from your importer, in the artwork you approve | Time: the number comes only after registration; ask your importer when it will be issued |
Questions buyers ask about blister artwork
Who lays out the blister artwork, and can I use my own?
We lay out and print the carton to the label rules of your market, which your importer confirms, and print the lidding foil with your brand. Artwork you already have can be used instead.
When do I approve the artwork?
After the sample and before print. You approve the sample, then the artwork for the carton and the lidding foil, and only the approved version is printed.
What is printed on the lidding foil of a blister?
Your brand; the rest of the foil's text is set in your artwork. The batch number, the expiry date and the market's other text go on the carton.
Can the expiry date be a sticker for Saudi Arabia or the UAE?
No. Under the food rules the US Department of Agriculture summarises, Saudi Arabia does not permit date stickers and the UAE does not accept dates printed only on stickers. Our expiry date is on the carton; your importer confirms which dates the carton must show.
Can my importer add a sticker after the goods arrive?
It depends on the market. In the food rules we read, Tanzania prohibits stick-on labels, Nigeria permits stick-on labels that do not remove easily and wants a foreign label applied before export, and Morocco allows an Arabic sticker after arrival with ONSSA's approval if the importer shows the supplier cannot print Arabic.
What is the minimum text on a blister foil for Egypt?
For a product the EDA registers, the product name, the pharmaceutical form and the company name or logo are enough where the inner cover is made from aluminium; the full list goes on the outer pack. Your importer confirms that this covers the lidding foil.
Where does the registration number go if it is issued after the artwork?
On the carton. If the number is still to come, say so in your enquiry before you approve the artwork; new text on the carton needs the artwork approved again.
What size can the carton be?
From 28 × 12 × 55 mm to 92 × 60 × 190 mm (width × height × length), the range of the IMA IC 150 cartoner, according to the machine documentation. A carton holds 1 to 4 blisters.
Read more
Blister packing · Arabic and French packaging · Export documents · Halal supplements · Middle East · North Africa · West Africa · East Africa
Ask about your artwork
Tell us the product, the countries of sale, what your importer has asked to see on the pack and whether you have artwork of your own. We answer within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. The minimum blister run and its production time are on minimum order quantity and production times.
Request a quote → Email sales@hyperpharm.eu
Sources
- Egyptian Drug Authority: GL.CAPP.035, Executive procedures of decree 572/2022, issued 22 September 2022, in force from 2 October 2022. Parts used: section "Names, cards and leaflets", page 13 (Arabic and English on the outer and inner cover, the data listed, price on the outer cover, the inner cover made from aluminium); for a finished imported product, the undertaking to add the importer's name, address and telephone number in Arabic, the price and the registration number. edaegypt.gov.eg. Checked 9 and 13 October 2026.
- US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service: Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards, Country Report, Saudi Arabia, SA2023-0004, 26 July 2023. Written for food. Production and expiry dates directly on the packages or on the producer's original label, no stickers for these dates, date format, a single supplementary Arabic sticker provided by the manufacturer (the report cites section 7.2.2.1 of the labelling regulation, discussed with SFDA.FD/GSO 2487). Copy on agriexchange.apeda.gov.in. Checked 9 and 13 October 2026.
- US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service: Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards, Country Report, United Arab Emirates, TC2025-0008, 21 November 2025. Written for food. Dates on the original label or primary packaging, dates printed only on stickers not accepted, one Arabic sticker before export, date format, national halal mark. Copy on agriexchange.apeda.gov.in. Checked 9 and 13 October 2026.
- US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service: Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards, Country Report, Tanzania, TZ2025-0018, 15 January 2026. Written for packaged food: the use of stick-on labels is strictly prohibited. Copy on agriexchange.apeda.gov.in. Checked 13 October 2026.
- US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service: Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards, Country Report, Morocco, MO2023-0005, 9 May 2023. Written for food. Stick-on labels approved by ONSSA, applied after arrival, where the importer shows the supplier cannot print Arabic. Copy on agriexchange.apeda.gov.in. Checked 9 October 2026.
- US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB): International affairs resources for Nigeria. Written for processed food imports: stick-on labels permitted provided they don't remove easily, foreign label applied before export, NAFDAC number on the label. ttb.gov. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Ministry of Public Health, Lebanon: decisions No. 2207/1 of 18 December 2014 and No. 376/1 of 12 March 2019 on imported food supplements, as amended (licence number and date on the label). The page does not show the date of the amending decision. moph.gov.lb. Checked 13 October 2026.
- TelQuel: How Morocco's supplement market outpaces regulation, 27 July 2026. Press report citing ONSSA: registration number and importer on imported products. telquel.ma. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Saudi Food and Drug Authority: conditions and requirements for food clearance (file uploaded April 2025): halal certificates and logos. sfda.gov.sa. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana: Guideline for Registration of Food/Nutritional/Dietary Supplements, FDA/HMD/GL-FS/2012/01, issued 1 March 2013, version 01: a product manufactured on contract basis says so on the product label. fdaghana.gov.gh. Checked 9 and 13 October 2026.