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SONCAP, the new VehCAP vehicle programme, Form M and PAAR in the order they actually run — what is issued in China before sailing, what your Nigerian bank issues, and what a missing certificate costs you at Apapa.
A car can be sound, paid for, loaded and on its way, and still be refused at Apapa because one certificate was not issued in China before the vessel sailed. Since 31 March 2026 there is a new one on that list, and most overseas sellers have never heard of it.
The chain is split. Three of these are issued in China against the actual vehicle, and none of those three can be produced retrospectively from Nigeria:
| Document | Issued by | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| Product Certificate (PC) | SON or a SON-accredited body | China — before Form M can be opened |
| SONCAP Certificate (SC) | SON or a SON-accredited body | China — per shipment, after the bill of lading |
| VehCAP certification | SON with NADDC | China — before shipment, and before everything else |
| Form M | Your bank, on the National Single Window | Nigeria — needs the PC |
| PAAR | Nigeria Customs Service | Nigeria — needs Form M and the SC |
The order is not a suggestion. Each document is the input to the next one, which is why a certificate obtained late does not delay a shipment, it cancels it.
SONCAP is SON's conformity programme for regulated imports, and vehicles are regulated. It runs in two stages. The Product Certificate registers the product itself — model, specification, manufacturer — and it is the document your importer's bank will ask for before it opens Form M. It comes in three forms depending on how often you ship: a single-consignment certificate, a registered certificate valid for a year, and a licensed certificate valid for a year with lighter inspection.
The SONCAP Certificate is the shipment-level one. It is applied for after the bill of lading is issued, it covers that consignment only, and it is the document customs actually reads at the port. One PC, many SCs — that is the normal pattern for a dealer shipping regularly.
Practically, certification is a per-shipment cost in the USD 300 to 600 range plus the product registration behind the PC. It is charged per certificate rather than per car, which is one more reason consolidating units into one shipment pays.
On 31 March 2026 the Federal Government launched the SON-NADDC Vehicle Conformity Assessment Programme. It is vehicle-specific, it is mandatory for both new and used vehicles, and it moves the whole inspection regime from "inspect after arrival" to "verify before entry".
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment put it in terms that leave no room: no vehicle shall be imported, cleared, registered or licensed without valid VehCAP certification, and VehCAP certification takes precedence over the other issues. The enforcement is not confined to customs either — the programme is backed across Customs, the Central Bank and the Federal Road Safety Corps.
What that means for an exporter is simple and unwelcome: if your plan was to sort certification out at the port, the plan no longer works. VehCAP sits upstream of Form M, so a car without it cannot even start the import paperwork.
Form M is opened by the importer, through an authorised dealer bank, and the Product Certificate is what unlocks it. It carries a validity period — commonly 180 days — and the invoice and shipment details on it have to agree with the SONCAP data. PAAR is the customs pre-arrival assessment: it is what fixes the duty you will actually be asked to pay, and it needs the Form M and the SC.
Two consequences land on the exporter. The commercial invoice we issue has to match the Form M line for line, and the importer's name and Form M number have to appear on the bill of lading. Disagreement between those three documents is the most common reason a perfectly good shipment sits at the port.
PVoC — pre-export verification of conformity — is the name Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda use, and Ghana runs its own CoC scheme under a different authority. Nigeria's programme is SONCAP, and since 2026 the vehicle-specific addition is VehCAP. If an agent offers you "PVoC for Nigeria", they are using the wrong word for roughly the right idea. Ask which certificate they will hand you, from which body, and for which consignment.
It is not a delay, it is a stop. Without certification there is no Form M; without Form M there is no PAAR; without PAAR there is no assessment and no release. The car sits at Apapa or Tin Can Island accruing rent while it is resolved, and the consequences named in the policy run to refusal of clearance, seizure and sanctions — with the Central Bank withholding import funding for the goods as well.
The part that is easy to miss is what happens after. An uncertified car that is eventually released still cannot be registered or licensed. That makes it unsellable, not merely late — and a car you cannot register is worth scrap value to your customer, not market value.
If the answer to the fourth question is a pause, that is the answer. VehCAP is new enough that some sellers have not registered for it yet, and you would rather find that out before the car is in a container.
Is SONCAP the same thing as VehCAP? No. SONCAP is SON's import conformity programme — a product certificate plus one certificate per shipment. VehCAP is the vehicle-specific programme SON runs with NADDC, launched 31 March 2026. A car import sits under both.
Can the certificate be obtained after the car arrives? Not as a plan. Pre-shipment verification has been the rule since 2026. In-country verification exists for non-compliant arrivals, but it is a remedy, and it is paid for in storage.
How long does certification take? The Product Certificate is the long pole, because it involves registering the product against the model. The shipment certificate is issued per consignment after the bill of lading and is the quicker of the two. Neither is something to start the week the vessel loads.
Who pays for it? The importer does, in the end, whoever orders it. Our quote carries certification as a separate line rather than hiding it in the freight, so you can see what it costs. The full landed-cost breakdown is here.
Tell us the model, the year range and the port you clear at, and we will come back with units plus the exact document set for that shipment — PC status, VehCAP booking and the originals schedule.
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