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ABU DHABI / WAM
The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma), revealed the strengths of the UAE Halal system, which enabled it to spread reliably worldwide.
It allowed the state to take the leading position in regional and international efforts in the Halal file, and provide advice to raise the technical capabilities of the countries wishing to join the UAE system.
More than 46 countries worldwide have interacted with the UAE Halal system, from North America to Australia, and from Russia to South America. As a milestone, it is compared to its counterparts issued years earlier.
Esma identified six types of challenges facing the Halal industry globally and developed solutions in what looks like an “Emirati recipe for success”. The challenges are consumer confidence in halal products, in addition to the lack of a system of mutual recognition in halal certificates, and finally the increasing number of unreliable halal marks.
This came up during the activities of the Gulf Standardisation Week 2019, organised by the GCC Standardisation Organisation, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the participation of more than 20 speakers.
The GCC standardisation agenda was about the role of its standardisation bodies, standardisation partners, consumer protection and product control, as well as a review of Gulf experiences in the areas of conformity and trade facilitation.
Abdullah Al Maeeni, Esma Director-General, said that the Authority is a reality for a study and research for this file, and presents the UAE’s leading role regionally and globally. Esma monitored these challenges and presented them to the largest regional gathering, the Gulf Standardisation Week, as the UAE takes the lead in the Halal industry and is leading regional and international efforts to develop its Halal system.
The UAE has many strengths in the Halal file, through the UAE Halal system, which includes a legislative framework, a UAE system for the control of halal products and its components, and a plan to enforce the national system for the control of halal products.
About the role of the State in regulating the Halal industry globally, the UAE has become a global icon in this regard, Al Maeeni said.
Last year, Esma signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organisation, to implement the first unified Arab Halal system, which includes 21 countries, and to unify the standards and marks of halal.
The system has been named the Arab Halal Programme, which includes mutual recognition among the Member States of the products under the mark, and reduces the cost of inspection and export to companies, he added.
Yousef Al Marzooqi, Head of Regulations and Rules section, reviewed the UAE legislative framework, the UAE Halal Products Control System, Slaughterhouse Registration Regulations, National Halal Mark, the UAE System of Control of Conformity Assessment Bodies, to develop a list of approved slaughterhouses within the scope of Halal, which includes more than “170” institutions and slaughterhouses approved in Europe, the United States and Australia.