UAE: Halal certification and accreditation bodies in Dubai

In a time where the work in the Halal Industry is being done swiftly with various organisations involved HalalFocus has called upon Raqam Consultancy to give us a summary of the current organisations working in Halal certification and accreditation in Dubai to help clarify the key players in the sector.

IHAF is an organization whose responsibility is coordinating among various accreditation bodies, certification bodies and ihaf-logostandard development authorities for Halal.

IHAF will neither be monitoring any accreditation bodies nor accrediting any halal CB’s.

ESMA has approved approximately six accreditation bodies to accredit halal CB’s as per the UAE.S 2055 or GSO UAE.S 2055 standards. Gulf Accreditation Council (GAC) and Dubai Accreditation Council (DAC), whose name was recently changed to Emirates International Accreditation Council (EIAC) are the two accreditation bodies actively providing accreditation to halal CB’s. So far GAC has accredited 9 CB’s and EIC/DAC has accredit 1 CB. All the accredited CB’s have to register with ESMA.

In UAE, halal certification is being provided by two accredited certification bodies, one of which is Gulf TIC. Neither ESMA nor MOEW(changed to MOCCAE) are providing halal certificates. Though Dubai Municipality – Public Health Services Department provide halal certification for red meat slaughtering.

As per our information, the deadline as of now is March 31st, 2017 for getting accredited as per the UAE.S 2055 or GSO UAE.S 2055 standards. And from 1st of April 2017 only those products (products which require a halal certificate) will be allowed to enter UAE which has been certified by accredited CB’s.

The information in this article has been written by RAQAM Consultancy DMCC in Dubai, UAE

They provide Regulatory Affairs & Compliance, Government Affairs, Crisis Management, Regulatory Intelligence and Halal Consultancy & Training Services to FMCG companies for the MENA region.

Contact details: info@raqamconsultancy.com  Tel: +971 4 552 0127