UAE to Collect Halal Fees on Foreign Plants
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - UAE officials indicate that they will approach approved foreign Halal certifiers directly in an effort to identify slaughter houses that produce meat for export to the UAE for the purpose of collecting annual Halal fees.
15 May 2008
1 minute read
The UAE announced that it would begin to collect fees from Halal certifiers and foreign slaughter plants that produce meat for export nearly 18 months ago.
The UAE General Secretariat of Municipalities (GSM) has indicated that it will begin contacting UAE-approved Halal certifiers around the world in an effort to collect Halal certification fees.
The GSM is also expected to ask foreign Halal certifiers to identify the slaughter plants that they certify for export to the UAE with the intention of collecting the fees from the slaughter plants. The UAE announced in early 2007 that it would begin collecting the fees. A subsequent fee schedule was published in June of 2007 reducing some of the fees.
ATO Dubai has met with the GSM on a number of occasions to stress that the fees would likely be difficult to collect given the structure of the U.S. meat export and processing industries and would almost certainly increase the cost of imported meat and meat products for consumers. Local officials indicate that the fees are needed to fund the audits and reviews of foreign Halal certifiers by UAE officials.
TheCattleSite News Desk
