6 New Countries Become IHAF Members

The International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF), a leading global platform for halal accreditation, has expanded its reach by welcoming six new member countries: Japan, Costa Rica, Bulgaria, Belarus, Sudan, and the Republic of Korea. With these additions, IHAF now represents 37 countries worldwide.

At its sixth Board of Directors and fourth General Assembly meeting, recently held in Frankfurt, Germany, IHAF approved the memberships of the following national accreditation bodies: the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Japan Accreditation Board, the Costa Rican Accreditation Body, the Executive Agency – Bulgarian Accreditation Service, the Belarusian State Centre for Accreditation, the Sudanese Accreditation Council, and the Korea Accreditation Board.

During the assembly, participants discussed various strategic topics, including the IHAF Expansion Report, the 2020-2024 IHAF Strategy, updates from internal committees, and progress on peer evaluation activities and development plans for the halal sector.

Dr. Rehab Faraj Al Ameri was appointed as the new IHAF Secretary-General for the term 2019-2022. Expressing her vision, Dr. Al Ameri said, “IHAF is dedicated to advancing international halal trade by collaborating with accreditation bodies worldwide. As Secretary-General, my focus is to drive sustained growth. The strong interest from countries to join IHAF reflects our commitment to unified halal accreditation standards and procedures.”

The assembly also introduced new members of the Board of Directors (BOD) and Committee Chairs for 2019-2022. The BOD affiliates for this term include:

• Emirates National Accreditation System
• Saudi Accreditation Centre
• GCC Accreditation Centre
• Pakistan National Accreditation Council
• Egyptian Accreditation Council
• L’Ente Italiano di Accreditamento (Italy)
• National Standardisation Council of Thailand and Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards
• National Accreditation Authority of Hungary
• Association for Laboratory Accreditation

Newly appointed Committee Chairs are Brahim Houla of GAC-GCC for the Multilateral Recognition Arrangement Committee, Saud Alaskar of SAC-KSA for the Technical Advisory Committee, and Mohamed Abdelmotagaly Aly of Emirates International Accreditation Centre for the Marketing and Media Committee.

The next IHAF assembly is scheduled to be held alongside the Global Halal Platform on February 18, 2020, during Gulf Food Week in Dubai.