Halal accreditation accounts for a process of assessing, accrediting, and monitoring the competence of the halal conformity assessment bodies against national regulations, international standards and other technical rules laid in the implementation documents of the accreditation body. In this vein, Halal Accreditation Agency (HAK) evaluates and monitors the halal-related conformity assessment activities of bodies against national and international standards, as well as its own rules and procedures.
       
        For a halal accreditation process, review, assessment, approval, and surveillance procedures toward the conformity assessment bodies demanding halal accreditation from HAK are performed pursuant to OIC/SMIIC Halal Standards and other related ISO standards.
 
         As noted above, there are implementation documents released by HAK for specific procedures, in addition to the relevant standards, and all-applicant bodies are expected to meet the requirements defined in these documents. The rules and principles applicable to the application, accreditation assessment, use of halal accreditation mark etc. are defined in these implementation documents. Conformity assessment bodies can learn more about HAK’s rules and procedures from the implementation documents, available here.       

          HAK has developed three (3) different accreditation schemes for (1) bodies that certify products and services as halal, (2) bodies that certify persons who will work as auditors, experts, etc. in the halal industry and (3) laboratories that perform testing used in the halal field. The relevant OIC/SMIIC Standard forming the basis for each halal accreditation scheme can be accessed at https://www.smiic.org/en/standards.
 
            It will be useful for the halal conformity assessment bodies to familiarise themselves with the requirements by carefully examining the relevant standards and HAK’s implementation documents before officially applying and to complete the necessary training requirements.
         
          Halal conformity assessment bodies demanding accreditation are obligated to conform with some pre-requirements for application:
 

• To establish and document a management system according to the relevant international standard,
• To operate the management system for at least six (6) months [for submission of the records of internal audits and management reviews],
• Meet the criteria of being an “Islamic Entity” as stipulated in OIC/SMIIC Halal Standards,
• To have at least one client (third party) ready for audit by the time HAK’s witness assessment takes place [See “AKR-Pr01-Rh-007: Guideline on Witness Assessment Planning for Halal Conformity Assessment Bodies” for further details]    

            Additionally, the halal conformity assessment bodies should submit all necessary documents and records to HAK before the on-site assessments.

       HAK organizes technical training programs at regular periods to ensure that the halal conformity assessment bodies can adopt relevant international standards and implementation documents. It is recommended that prospective applicant/applicant halal conformity assessment bodies should follow the technical trainings to improve their overall competency and to grasp their needs for improvement, if any. HAK's training announcements and the requirements for participation are publicly available both on the ‘Announcements’ section of our official website and on the Twitter account (https://twitter.com/TC_HAK_).

          To get more detailed information about the halal accreditation requirements, procedures and normative documents, all interested parties can contact HAK via e-mail (info@hak.gov.tr) or phone at +90 312 939 08 40.      

           Furthermore, following flowcharts may help you better grasp the basic accreditation procedures of HAK:

 
Latest Update: 03 November 2021