Category: Compliance

Ask to see the records for your product while the artwork is still editable. If certification is pending, agree what must happen before the designer releases it to the printer. This applies whether you are launching a drink, developing skincare or moving a supplement to another factory.

1. What does the manufacturer’s Halal certificate cover?

An OEM certificate covers a manufacturer’s service of making products for other businesses. Product certification covers the relevant products under the applicable product scheme. JAKIM separates the two in Circular 1/2018, paragraphs 3, 6 and 7.

The amended Manual Prosedur Pensijilan Halal Malaysia (Domestik) 2020, effective 1 April 2026, keeps this distinction. Section 18(8)(b) states:

Skim ini tidak boleh digunakan sebagai perakuan halal ke atas produk yang dikilangkan

In English, the OEM scheme cannot serve as Halal certification for the manufactured products. Section 41(6) also requires product-scheme certification for products carrying the logo. See the amended MPPHM, printed pages 50 and 85.

So when a supplier says, “Our factory is Halal certified,” follow up with: “Which certificate and product records cover our brand and this particular product?”

The answer should let you check both the manufacturing service and the item you intend to sell. If all you receive is the OEM certificate, the product check is still unfinished.

2. Who can apply for your branded product?

JAKIM allows two routes: the brand owner can apply directly, or the contract manufacturer can apply on the owner’s behalf and register the product’s brand. Both are described in Circular 2/2017, paragraph 5.

Before applying as the brand owner, check that your appointed manufacturer already holds the relevant OEM-scheme certificate. Circular 1/2018, paragraph 6 requires this. Then confirm which route meets the requirements for your arrangement and what each party needs to provide.

If the manufacturer has only sent its OEM certificate, ask whether certification for your branded product is pending or approved, and request the supporting records.

When the manufacturer applies on your behalf, its information must also appear on the product packaging, as set out in Circular 2/2017, paragraph 6. Have the application and label teams confirm the wording before the artwork is finalised.

Be specific about what “Halal included” means in a quotation. A manufacturer might apply on your behalf, or it might prepare documents while your company remains the applicant. Those arrangements give your team different responsibilities.

Manufacturer coordination may suit a small team launching its first product. A brand with regulatory staff may prefer to handle correspondence directly. Either way, agree which records you will receive and who will answer when a distributor asks for proof of certification.

3. Why decide this before printing packaging?

Once cartons are printed, a label correction has a cost. The same change may also affect your product photos, marketplace listings and distributor launch materials.

Give the designer and purchasing team a clear point at which they can proceed. Keep separate dates for product development, submission of the application, the expected authority decision and release of the artwork. Treat the expected decision date as a planning estimate until approval arrives. Finishing the formula or submitting an application does not mean the product is certified.

Before accepting a quotation, ask whether it includes application preparation, official fees, applicable testing, label review and later amendments. Ask for the exclusions as well, and agree who handles renewals and changes.

This makes quotations easier to compare. You can see which work the manufacturer will do and which costs and tasks remain with your team before you commit to production.

4. How do you check whether your product is covered?

Start with the product you plan to sell and compare it with the certification records. Keep a note of anything that does not match, along with the person responsible for resolving it.

Step 1: Request the complete documents

Ask for the current certificate and the relevant product listing or annex. A cropped logo cannot tell you which products or premises are covered.

Record the certificate holder, reference number, scheme, manufacturing premises, product and brand details, and expiry date. Add the date you checked them so your team knows when the review took place.

Step 2: Check the official directory

Use JAKIM’s Semakan Status Halal page to reach the Malaysian Halal Directory, which JAKIM identifies as the source for checking certified products, premises and services.

Compare the result with the supplier’s documents. Check the current status as well as the expiry date, because certification can be suspended or cancelled before that date. If the details are unclear, ask the supplier and issuing authority to resolve them. An unsuccessful search alone does not prove wrongdoing; it means you need more information to finish the check.

Electronic certificates are legitimate. JAKIM introduced e-Cert for approvals on or after 5 May 2025, allowing approved applicants to print their certificates through MYeHALAL. Check the official record rather than judging a certificate by its paper or presentation. See JAKIM’s e-Cert announcement.

Step 3: Compare the product you will actually sell

Put the proposed label beside the product records. Check the name, brand, variant and manufacturing location, and mark any differences.

For example, certification for an original-flavour drink does not establish coverage for a new chocolate version. Ask how the new variant will be covered and keep the supporting reference with its label file.

Step 4: Agree who releases the artwork

Name the people who will confirm product coverage and review the final label. Keep one approved artwork version with its supporting documents, then send that version to both the printer and the marketing team.

While certification is pending, hold the artwork containing the Halal logo. Assessment does not guarantee approval. Release it only after product coverage and label requirements have been confirmed.

5. Decision walkthrough: should you approve the cartons?

Suppose you are launching a powdered drink under a new brand. Your manufacturer has supplied a valid OEM certificate, but certification for your branded product is still pending. The printer is waiting for artwork that includes the Halal logo.

For this illustrative exercise, assume you are ordering 5,000 cartons at RM0.80 each:

5,000 × RM0.80 = RM4,000

That is RM4,000 committed before the label question is settled. It is not necessarily a total loss. The outcome depends on what needs changing and whether the packaging can still be used. These figures are planning assumptions, not an Edmark quotation or a customer case.

Hold approval of the artwork containing the Halal logo. You can continue preparing sales copy and distributor information without making an unsupported Halal claim.

Once certification is granted, check that the details match and complete the label review. Then give the designer and printer written approval.

6. What should supplement and skincare owners check separately?

Plan the Halal application and applicable NPRA work separately. Completing one process does not complete the other.

For cosmetics, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency allows the Halal logo on a notified product when it has the relevant Halal certification. Cosmetic notification alone does not provide that certification. See NPRA’s cosmetic guidance, “9. Halal”.

For registered health supplements, section 7.14(d) of NPRA’s July 2026 Drug Registration Guidance Document requires a variation application for approval to add the Halal logo after Halal certification is granted. The certificate supports that application. Build this additional approval into the label schedule. See NPRA DRGD, printed page 46.

If you are unsure whether your proposed drink is regulated as food or a health supplement, resolve its classification before planning the submissions. NPRA’s guidance index includes food-drug interface guidance for this boundary.

Raise capsule shells, gelatin and collagen early in the formulation discussion. JAKIM’s November 2025 circular sets self-monitoring requirements for capsules, gelatin- and collagen-based products, and marshmallow. Ask which requirements apply, who arranges sampling and who keeps the laboratory records. The requirements depend on the category and arrangement; one testing schedule should not be assumed for every project.

One detail deserves attention if you supply ingredients yourself: Schedule B assigns sampling responsibility to the brand owner when the brand owner purchases the raw materials and supplies them to the manufacturer, directly or through a producer, agent or importer. Confirm that responsibility before buying the material so the testing and documentation are included in your plan.

7. What happens if you change manufacturers?

Check the certification implications before treating output from the new factory as covered. Section 39(1)(c) of the amended manual lists a change of contract manufacturer among the circumstances in which the authority may cancel a certificate. See the amended MPPHM, printed page 83.

Even if the certificate is in your company’s name, it does not automatically transfer to a new factory. If easier factory changes are your reason for applying directly, confirm what approvals a move would require before choosing that route.

Before agreeing the changeover, list the old factory’s remaining batches, unused packaging and planned last production date. Ask the new manufacturer to set out the documents and approvals needed for its first batch. Agree how you will identify stock from each factory.

Review changes to the formula, ingredient supplier, brand name or repacking arrangement in the same way. Give the responsible team the exact proposed change and ask what must happen before it is implemented.

8. What should you ask your manufacturer?

You can use this in your next supplier enquiry:

We plan to sell [product and variant] under [brand] in [market]. Will we apply for Halal certification directly, or will you apply on our behalf? Whose name will appear on the certificate?

Please share your relevant OEM certificate and explain how our branded product will receive product certification. We also need to confirm the manufacturing premises, documents we must supply, costs included and excluded, and what must be completed before we approve artwork containing the Halal logo.

Please explain who handles renewals and changes to the product, ingredients or manufacturing site.

Keep the reply with your product brief so the designer, purchasing team and manufacturer can work from the same agreement. For a broader supplier review, use our OEM manufacturer checklist.