KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Malaysia will only accept meat and poultry imports from the United States if the halal certification is issued by bodies recognised by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said today.
He stressed that while the move aims to ease trade between both countries, there would be no compromise on halal standards thus ensuring that all imported products continue to comply with Malaysia’s halal standards.
“All imported products must still comply fully with Malaysia’s halal requirements, in line with Syariah principles,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
This is to protect the interests of Muslim consumers in Malaysia, he said.
Tengku Zafrul said the facilitation measures would apply solely to monitoring and verification processes, and even then, only by US halal certifiers already recognised by Jakim.
He also denied claims that Malaysia would automatically recognise halal certificates from the United States without review, describing such allegations as baseless, misleading and malicious.
He said the claim that Malaysia would instantly recognise US halal certification did not reflect the actual understanding reached during negotiations.
“What was agreed between Malaysia and the US is a streamlining of the certification and facility registration process for the export of dairy, meat, poultry and poultry-based products from the US, all of which must still comply with Malaysia’s existing halal and food safety regulations,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia had also agreed to adopt a regionalisation approach for disease control.
He explained that this meant Malaysia would allow the import of live poultry and poultry products from specific regions in the US certified as disease-free, rather than requiring the entire country to be free of the disease.
He added that both countries had also agreed to facilitate the recognition of standards and marketing for US industrial products such as automotive components, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, based on Malaysia’s existing domestic regulatory framework.
“I wish to emphasise that Malaysia is not relaxing any controls or conditions that would compromise the rights of the people or the sustainability of local industries.
“This means there will be no blanket exemption from import licence requirements or approved permits for products imported from the US,” he said.
He also stressed that there would be no full liberalisation of foreign equity or ownership conditions in strategic sectors, and Bumiputera equity requirements would continue to be maintained where applicable.
