The Malaysia Halal Industry Development Council has decided that starting early next year, the application and renewal procedures for halal certificates will be simplified, with the certificate approval or feedback period shortened to only 23 working days.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the decision was made after receiving many complaints that the approval and issuance of halal certificates took too long — between nine months and two years.
During a press conference after chairing the Malaysia Halal Industry Development Council meeting today, he said the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and the Halal Development Corporation Bhd (HDC) will work closely together to ensure the matter can be implemented.
One of the factors that caused the halal certificate application period to take a long time was the constraints faced by applicants, especially from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), in meeting the conditions set by the Jakim Halal Certification Division.
“There is a problem with the application submitted by MSMEs; perhaps the conditions cannot be met, especially in modifying or upgrading premises for product production places. It may be quite expensive, but we will coordinate the problems faced,” Ahmad Zahid said.
As a start, HDC and related parties will implement a new Halal certificate application process through ‘proof of concept’ (POC) involving five hotel premises around Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan to see how the process goes.
“Implement POC within two months; after two months, we are going to start 23 working days as the new benchmark for Halal certification to be issued,” he said.
The meeting also agreed to strengthen Halal diplomacy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti), to promote local halal products and services abroad.
“We have to get out of the cocoon of the domestic market of halal products. The Foreign Ministry and Miti have planned that halal diplomacy can be done jointly, in official visits and working visits of both ministries, with the prime minister and other ministers involved in the halal products or services.
“We have at least three agreements at the international level which have halal elements in them, and we will be proactive with all the agencies involved, especially the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), HDC, and Jakim, to implement this halal diplomacy,” Ahmad Zahid said.
