MALAYSIA: HALAL ACT TO BE FORMULATED NEXT YEAR

SEPANG (Malaysia), Dec 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will formulate the Halal Act
by the end of next year which, among other things, will promote the growth of
the halal industry and check the problems of halal certificate falsification.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom said
the proposed act would specify the form of action and measures to be taken
against those using fake halal certificates and the laxity by certain quarters
in complying with the halal regulation.

"These include falsifying the certificate, while there are also others who
have obtained the halal certificate but do not comply with the syariah
requirement, thus it needs some form of enforcement," he told reporters after
opening the IMT-GT Third International Symposium on Halal Science and Management
2009, here Monday.

He said the implementation of the proposed act would also help in tackling
the various halal issues that might crop up.

-- BERNAMA