Ankara to Host a Global Reckoning Over Fractured Halal Standards

Turkey’s Halal Accreditation Agency will convene governments, scientists and industry leaders next month in a bid to harmonize a certification landscape that experts say has long undermined trust in international halal trade.

For decades, a manufacturer seeking to export halal-certified goods — whether a jar of peanut butter from Texas, a vial of cosmetics from South Korea, or a pharmaceutical compound from Germany — has faced a bewildering patchwork of national certification schemes, each with its own standards, its own inspectors and its own stamp of approval.

A product certified halal in Malaysia may face fresh scrutiny in Saudi Arabia. An endorsement from one European body may carry little weight in Indonesia.

That fragmentation, long a source of friction in one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets, will be placed squarely under the microscope at the First International Halal Accreditation Congress, set to convene in Ankara from April 6 to 8. Organized by the Republic of Türkiye Halal Accreditation Agency, known by its Turkish acronym HAK, the gathering is the most ambitious attempt yet to forge a common technical framework for halal conformity assessment — the bedrock process by which products earn the right to be called halal.

The congress, themed “The Milestone of Trust in the Global Halal Quality Infrastructure: Halal Accreditation,” will bring together scientists, regulators, certification bodies, policymakers and industry stakeholders from dozens of countries for two days of scientific and sectoral sessions, before concluding with a networking program on April 8. Participation is free, and selected peer-reviewed papers presented at the congress will be considered for inclusion in an internationally indexed publication.

“Halal certification practices differ across countries, leading to fragmented standards, inconsistent quality requirements and technical barriers to halal trade.”

The Stakes for the Global Halal Economy

The stakes are substantial.

The global halal economy, encompassing food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, logistics and Islamic finance, is estimated to be worth trillions of dollars and serves a Muslim population that has now surpassed 1.9 billion people worldwide. Yet despite its scale, the sector has never had a single, universally accepted accreditation framework — a gap that exporters, importers and manufacturers say imposes significant costs and uncertainty.

A Decade in the Making

Türkiye’s ambitions in this space stretch back more than a decade.

In 2011, the country adopted halal standards issued by the Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries, a body affiliated with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Six years later, HAK was formally established by law under the Ministry of Trade as the sole national authority for halal accreditation — a step that set Türkiye apart from most other countries, where accreditation functions remained dispersed across religious bodies, private firms and government ministries.

Since then, HAK has granted accreditation to 120 institutions across 35 countries, with more than 2,000 companies’ products and services now certified under its framework.

Its reach spans Europe, the Middle East, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and it counts membership in the Halal Accreditation Agencies Islamic Forum, headquartered in Saudi Arabia and established in 2023 under the O.I.C., among its international credentials.

The April congress was formally announced by Trade Minister Bolat at the 11th World Halal Summit in Istanbul in November, where he described it as a platform intended to “introduce new dimensions to halal sector initiatives.”

The summit itself, held under the motto “Innovation and Excellence in Halal Trade,” drew participants from 110 countries and underscored Türkiye’s determination to position Ankara as a nerve center for global halal governance.

What Harmonization Could Mean for Business

For companies navigating multi-market halal compliance, the practical implications of a more harmonized framework could be significant.

Currently, a food manufacturer seeking to export to Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia may be required to obtain separate certifications from each country’s recognized bodies, submit to independent audits in each jurisdiction and reformulate products to meet differing ingredient thresholds — a process that can add months and considerable expense to a product launch.

Proponents of harmonization argue that a common technical language for halal accreditation — one that defines what a credible certification body must look like, how audits should be conducted and what documentation standards should apply — would reduce this burden substantially, lower barriers to trade and give consumers greater confidence that a halal mark means the same thing wherever they encounter it.

Critics, however, caution that the road to harmonization is rarely smooth. Differences in Islamic jurisprudence, particularly on contested questions such as the status of stunning in slaughter, the permissibility of certain food additives and the treatment of alcohol in manufacturing, mean that any universal standard will inevitably encounter theological as well as technical objections.

Past efforts at harmonization within the O.I.C. have made incremental progress but have fallen short of producing binding frameworks that major markets are willing to adopt.

Any universal standard will inevitably encounter theological as well as technical objections. Past efforts at harmonization have made only incremental progress.

Who Will Be in the Room

The congress is designed to function as a genuinely multidisciplinary forum, with tracks for academic researchers presenting peer-reviewed work, government officials discussing regulatory approaches, and private-sector representatives examining the operational dimensions of halal compliance.

Oral and poster presentations will be accepted, and the organizing committee has indicated that the event will accommodate both in-person and remote participation.

Among the institutions expected to be represented are national standards bodies from across the Islamic world, European and North American certification agencies that have sought or obtained HAK accreditation, and researchers working at the intersection of food science, Islamic law and supply chain management.

The presence of S.M.I.I.C., whose secretary general is listed among the congress’s confirmed speakers, signals that the event will carry institutional weight within the broader O.I.C. framework.

For businesses, the congress represents an unusual opportunity to observe, and potentially influence, the direction of a regulatory conversation that will shape the cost and complexity of halal compliance for years to come.

Registration is open at hakcongress.org, and organizers note that participation carries no fee.