Answer for Oral Question PL212

QUESTION

Yang Berhormat Dr. Awang Haji Mahali bin Haji Momin

YANG BERHORMAT DR. AWANG HAJI MAHALI BIN HAJI MOMIN asks Yang Berhormat Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama to state what efforts the Ministry has undertaken to facilitate the halal certification approval process so that it does not take a long time, considering that time is golden? There have been complaints from entrepreneurs regarding delays in the issuance of Halal certificates (some taking more than 1 year), which have affected their business operation processes.

ANSWER

Yang Berhormat Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama

At present, the Department of Syariah Affairs has implemented several improvements to the Halal Certification process to enhance the efficiency as well as transparency of the process. Among the improvement measures that have been taken include:

1. Review of the TPOR period
   TPOR has been reviewed according to the existing work process by taking into account its feasibility within a more appropriate and practical timeframe.

2. Online application
   Applicants may also submit applications online to make the process easier and further expedite matters.

3. Reduction and improvement of processes
   The processes that have been reviewed include, among others, making the halal supervisor test a prerequisite before a halal certificate application is submitted, thereby reducing processing time.

4. Self-Declaration approach
   A new approach, namely Self-Declaration, will be introduced, which allows applicants who already have a Halal Certificate and intend to make additions to ingredients and menus to make a self-declaration without having to undergo a field audit. This provides greater flexibility to applicants, while still maintaining compliance through an enforcement approach and emphasis on halal integrity.

5. Sharing of ingredient lists
   A list of ingredients that have been recognised as halal by MUIB is also provided and shared through the official KHEU website as guidance and reference for applicants.

6. Monitoring application status through "Status Tracking"
   Continuous monitoring of application Status Tracking is also carried out to ensure that every stage of processing complies with the stipulated TPOR.

Based on data for the months of May and June 2025, this process updating has shown a positive trend with the achievement of 100% of applications complying with TPOR, particularly at the audit stage, compared to April at 58.02%.

Insya-Allah, this process updating will continue to be coordinated at all levels to ensure that the processing of halal certificates consistently complies with TPOR comprehensively.