JAS-ANZ has become only the third accreditation body to be recognised by Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) as a recognised Accreditation Body for the UAE Halal certification scheme.  A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in December between the two organisations.  JAS-ANZ has also signed a cooperative MoU with the GCC Accreditation Centre (GAC) to assist in the development of the scheme within JAS-ANZ.

The UAE Halal Certification Scheme has been established by ESMA to underpin the importation of Halal certified products into the UAE, so that UAE consumers can have greater confidence in the status of the food they consume.  The scheme has been rolled out initially in Australia and New Zealand, for a limited number of food products, because of the advanced controls local regulators have had in place for many years.

The importance of the Halal food export trade was recently highlighted in the Senate Economics References Committee review of Third party certification of food.  According to the submission made by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:

" Were we unable to offer Australian Government assured halal certification to our Muslim and other trading partners, access for our red meat exports to these markets would be limited and potentially denied, with a corresponding deleterious effect on the Australian red meat export industry. Likewise, if other food businesses did not have access to commercial halal certification services this would limit their ability to access a large and growing pool of Muslim consumers, many of whom reside in rapidly growing economies within our region. "

As one of our organisational goals is to facilitate trade, JAS-ANZ will work with certifiers within Australia and New Zealand to support the trade of Halal certified products from both countries.