ACTION TAKEN ON PARTIES FOUND MISUSING HALAL LOGO

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (Bernama) -- The government is relentless in its action
against hotels or food premises which misused the halal logo, or used words
which confused consumers on a product's halal status.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom said that upon
conviction, errant hotels and food premises could be fined up to RM250,000
(US$80,064) under the Trade Descriptions (Use of Expression 'Halal') Order 1975
for the first offence.

"The second offence carries a fine of up to RM500,000," he said in response to a
question from Sapawi Ahmad during a question-and-answer session at the Lower
House of Parliament here Wednesday.

Sapawi had asked, what action could be taken against hotels which did not
implement halal certification at their food premises.

Jamil Khir said, among the misleading wordings used were 'Bufet Ramadan'
(Ramadan Buffet) and 'Ditanggung Halal' (Guaranteed Halal) while in fact, the
situation was not as such.

He said the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and state Islamic religious
departments (Jain) monitored and carried out enforcement on all food premises,
including those without halal certification from the two departments, with help
from the domestic trade, cooperative and consumerism ministry.

For the period between August last year and this month, the ministry carried out
1,409 monitoring and enforcement operations. Of these, 19 cases were acted upon
under the Trade Descriptions Act 1972 and Trade Description (Use of Expression
'Halal') Order 1975.

Jamil Khir clarified that applications for halal certificates were voluntary and
both Jakim and Jain had no authority to make it compulsory for hotels or food
premises to apply.

"However, we can take action on halal certificate holders which did not meet
required standards," he said.
-- BERNAMA