All businesses in Brunei producing, supplying and serving food and beverages are now required to apply for Halal certification, according to the recent amendment to the Halal Certificate and Halal Label Order.
Failure to apply (initiating the application process) for Halal certification within the grace period can be fined up to a maximum of $8,000 and/or face two years in jail.
Halal certification is currently separated into two categories;
Halal Permit (Label)
Businesses who manufacture or produce food products for supply and distribution. Examples include bakeshops that supply pastries to supermarket shelves for sale. Each individual product has to have its own permit. Permit extends to any item that is orally consumed. This includes medicine and supplements.
Halal Certificate
Businesses who prepare and serve food at an establishment. Examples include food served at restaurants and cafes.
Businesses that were established and running before the amendment’s date of implementation (May 26, 2017) must apply for a certificate or a permit for their products before November 26, 2017. Businesses that are registered after the date of implementation are given a six-month grace period to apply. During the grace period, these businesses are allowed to operate as usual.
The amendment also means that businesses who strictly manufacture and produce for supply and distribution and do not serve food on premise (such as factories), need only apply for the halal permit. Previously those manufacturing and not serving were also required to have a halal certificate.
The exception for the certificate and permit are for businesses looking to serve or distribute non-Muslim products. However, they are now required to apply/notify the Halal Food Control Division under the Ministry of Religious Affairs to be exempted through a letter. They will be required to fulfill certain requirements including a declaration that they are only serving food for non-Muslims and will forbid Muslims from partaking food from the premises.
Businesses also have the option of applying for the Halal label for non-oral items such as cosmetics. However this is not compulsory.
The fee for the Halal Certificate is $90 which will be valid for three years. The Halal Permit costs $50 per product and will remain valid unless the ingredient profile is changed. The Ministry of Religious Affairs will continue its target of issuing certification within 45 days of application.
To obtain the full document of the order click here. The guidelines and application process for halal can be found at www.kheu.gov.bn.
Darussalam Enterprise will be hosting a dialogue session with the Halal Food Control Division of the Ministry of Religious Affairs at the First Floor Auditorium of the Design and Technology Building at the Anggerek Desa Tech Park at 8pm on July 12. To attend, RSVP your attendance to +6738363442.
Information for this story was provided by Halal Food Control Division under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The division is located the Ground Floor of the Syariah Affairs Department, Ministry of Religious Affairs (Old Building), Jalan Elizabeth II, Bandar Seri Begawan BS3510. They can also be contacted on their hotline at +6737166222 or email them at bkmh@mora.gov.bn
