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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 auditing will be examined depending on the company’s product or service,” HAC CEO Ali Fatharally said, explaining the new process.
“Subject to the audit meeting all the criteria and principles of halal compliance a specially-appointed committee will approve the issuing of a certificate.”
“We have trained HAC-approved supervisors who would be assigned to be present and assist with the procedures when an abattoir is conducting halal-compliant slaughter,” Mr. Fatharally added.
He emphasised that there was no mandatory requirement for anyone to obtain halal compliance or to display any logo to confirm products were halal-compliant.
The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the religious organisation of Muslim clerics, officially announced that its division for halal certification had stopped issuing certificates from 31 December 2013 to make way for the new authority.
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) general secretary Ven. Galagodaatthe Gnanasara Thera claimed the formation of a private company to issue halal certificates was a misleading act.
“The new company is just another wing of the ACJU. The ACJU’s press release clearly stated that the company is functioned upon the instructions of the ACJU,” he claimed.
“Article 8(1) of their Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) says that halal compliance should be fully implemented in accordance with sharia law. So, we raise the question that if someone violates the regulations, under which law would he be punishable?” Ven. Gnanasera Thera asked.
“Therefore this is nothing more than a religious coercion which ultimately leads the country to chaos, and as priests we are not ready to surrender,” he declared, stressing that the BBS anti-halal certification campaign would continue.
He said 91 per cent of the population was non-Muslim and there was no need for halal certification as it created extra expense for all customers.
Ven. Gnanasara Thera said the BBS accepted the necessity of halal-compliant methodology for export goods, and this could be implemented through the Export Bureau or the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. The halal compliance procedure that existed prior to certification should be implemented for local products.
Responding to the accusation, ACJU consultant Shaikh Fazil Farook said, “People can claim many things, but those claims cannot change the truth. Legally, ACJU has no involvement with the new company as it is another independent entity.”
Mr. Farook told The Sunday Times that halal was strictly a matter of religion 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.”