Halal logistics in Malaysia: transport, warehousing and retail

What the logistics scheme covers

JAKIM's logistics scheme is open to transportation, warehousing and retailing companies, including integrated logistics providers and cold chain facilities. Each of the three activities has its own part of the standard and its own extra requirements, and the application must declare the activities you run in full on MYeHALAL. A 3PL that moves goods, stores them and sells to retail is therefore applying against all three.

The last two rows matter first. Retail here is wider than shops: a distributor or trader counts as a retailer. And a company that handles both halal and non-halal products, including a food delivery service, is not eligible, so decide that before anything else.

The standard behind each activity

MS 2400 is split into three parts, one per activity. Which parts you are audited against follows from what you declared.

Licences you need first

Halal certification sits on top of the licensing your activity already needs. The manual lists the prerequisites by activity, and applies them where they are relevant to what you do. A domestic warehouse operator will have a shorter list than a freight forwarder handling imported meat.

Transportation

The transport rules look at the whole network, not one vehicle. A certified operator carries halal products only, keeps no najis mughallazah material anywhere in the network, tracks its vehicles and marks the certified ones. Drivers are covered too: they may not carry food, drink, animals or any non-halal material while on duty.

Warehousing

Warehousing is certified lot by lot. The whole premises must be free of najis mughallazah material, and a certified lot is a physically separated, marked area that stores halal products only. Halal goods that are not certified can sit in a certified lot, but they must be separated and labelled from the certified ones.

Retail

Distributors and traders handle halal products only. A food retailer such as a supermarket may keep a non-halal section, but only with the controls below, and najis mughallazah material may not be handled or displayed anywhere on the premises.

Staffing and system requirements

The same bands as the product schemes, with one difference in wording that matters: for logistics the Muslim staffing requirement applies to the logistics service area, so it attaches to the warehouse floor and the transport operation, not to head office. Large and medium operators run a Halal Assurance System with a committee; small and micro operators run the lighter IHCS. See who you must appoint and HAS and IHCS explained.

Validity and fees

A logistics certificate is valid for three years, and renewal opens six months and closes three months before expiry. The statutory fee is on the same turnover-banded product and services schedule as the other schemes: RM100 a year for a micro operator up to RM1,000 for the largest, plus RM20 processing. See validity and renewal, the full gazetted fee schedules, and how to apply on MYeHALAL.

What to check before you apply

• Which of the three activities you actually run. The scope you declare sets the parts of MS 2400 you are audited against.
• Whether you carry or sell both halal and non-halal. If you do, the manual makes you ineligible, and food delivery operators are named specifically.
• The najis mughallazah rule. It applies to the whole transport network and to the whole warehouse or shop premises, not only to the certified part.
• Subcontracted vehicles and space. The scope you declare is the scope audited, so ask what happens at the point where your own vehicles or lots stop.
• Your licences. Customs, road transport and veterinary permits are checked as prerequisites, where they apply to you.