No coercion, no logo, assures new halal body

The halal certification process that has been taken over by a private company will be voluntary and there will be no requirement to display any logo on products, a spokesman for the new company declared.

But critics charge the creation of the new Halal Accreditation Council (Guarantee) Limited, registered as a limited guarantee company under the companies act No. 07 of 2007, is misleading - an accusation rejected by Muslim leaders.

“Once HAC receives the relevant documentation from a company requesting halal compliance certification a checklist of compliance audit- ing will be examineders.depending on were halal-compliant. eration Procedure (SOP) says that the company’s product or service,” The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulahalal compliance should be fully imVen. Gnanasara Thera said the HAC CEO Ali Fatharally said, exma (ACJU), the religious organisaplemented in accordance with shaBBS accepted the necessity of halalplaining the new process. tion of Muslim clerics, officially anria law. So, we raise the question that compliant methodology for export

“Subject to the audit meeting all nounced that its division for halal if someone violates the regulations, goods, and this could be implementhe criteria and principles of halal certification had stopped issuing under which law would he be punted through the Export Bureau or compliance a specially-appointed certificates from 31 December 2013 to ishable?” Ven. Gnanasera Thera the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. committee will approve the issuing make way for the new authority. asked. The halal compliance procedure that of a certificate.” Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) general sec“Therefore this is nothing more existed prior to certification should

“We have trained HAC-approved retary Ven. Galagodaatthe Gnanathan a religious coercion which ultibe implemented for local products. supervisors who would be assigned sara Thera claimed the formation of mately leads the country to chaos, Responding to the accusation, ACto be present and assist with the proa private company to issue halal cerand as priests we are not ready to JU consultant Shaikh Fazil Farook cedures when an abattoir is conducttificates was a misleading act. surrender,” he declared, stressing said, “People can claim many things, ing halal-compliant slaughter,” Mr. “The new company is just another that the BBS anti-halal certification but those claims cannot change the Fatharally added. wing of the ACJU. The ACJU’s press campaign would continue. truth. Legally, ACJU has no involve

He emphasised that there was no release clearly stated that the compaHe said 91 per cent of the populament with the new company as it is mandatory requirement for anyone ny is functioned upon the instruction was non-Muslim and there was another independent entity.” to obtain halal compliance or to distions of the ACJU,” he claimed. no need for halal certification as it Mr. Farook told The Sunday Times play any logo to confirm products “Article 8(1) of their Standard Op- created extra expense for all custom- that halal was strictly a matter of re- ligion and had nothing to do with commercial purposes.

“As a respectable religious and scholarly body that stands for the betterment of the Muslims in this country, we unanimously decided to withdraw from halal certification in response to previous false accusations,” he said.

“But halal remains as an extreme necessity in the lives of Muslims and we cannot remove it completely. Therefore, among the number of companies that have applied we selected one not-for-profit company genuinely committed to Muslims’ needs, to take over the certification duty.”