Egypt has created new requirements related to Halal certification, which are currently scheduled to go into effect October 1, 2021. While the specific nature of the new halal requirements is not entirely clear yet due to lack of specifics related to the dairy Halal certifications from the Egyptian government, the following reflect our understanding of the situation. USDEC is in close communication with USDA, USTR, and our office in Lebanon regarding this development and working to get more clarity on the situation.

• As of October 1, 2021, Egypt will require all imported milk and its products and derivatives (or at least the products needing veterinary approval) to be Halal certified, ship with a Halal certificate, and be labeled as such, regardless of the country of origin; however, some sources have stated that the labeling requirement will only go into effect on January 1, 2022.
• The new Halal standards require dairy products to be certified as Halal exclusively by IS EG HALAL. As such, no Halal certifier other than IS EG HALAL will be acknowledged by Egypt for foreign products.
• Other products containing milk, but which do not require veterinary approval, will also require Halal certification at a later date. Based on reports, this may be January 1. The Egyptian National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) has not yet issued a list of products or exact implementation date(s); however, NSFA stated that the list will likely be based on the Halal Standard Specification number 4249 of the year 2014.

In order for products to be compliant with Egypt's new Halal requirements, the following parameters are what Egypt has communicated to date:

• A renewable annual Halal certification granted to the production facility.
• A Halal certificate from the establishment of production must accompany each shipment (each shipment will have a different serial number).
  • It is currently understood that companies will have to pay for a new certificate for each shipment. The pricing is currently unknown and ISEG HALAL has not yet provided this information.
  • The Halal certificate will not need to be legalized.
• Beginning January 1, 2022, product package labels need to contain an ISEG Halal issued Halal mark for the label/packaging.
  • Egyptian authorities will allow for a transition period where stickers can be used to apply the ISEG HALAL mark in a company warehouse after the product arrives in Egypt; however, no specific date for how long stickers can be used has been provided.

Egypt has not provided an official regulation, or explanation of the regulation's requirements in writing. As such, USDEC has obtained similar but slightly different details on requirements from several sources, which themselves received differing information from various Egyptian sources. Additionally, there appears to be confusion even within the different Egyptian ministries as to the exact specifics of the change in Egypt's Halal requirements, resulting in further uncertainty.

As noted above, USDEC is working closely with FAS and USTR to gain clarification on Egypt's new requirements, as well as seeking changes to these requirements. Chief amongst USDEC's requests is a delay of the regulation's implementation to avoid trade disruption. In addition, we are concerned about the burden the new requirements may place on companies, particularly given the lack of information on ISEG's certification process and cost.

USDEC will provide further information and updates once they are obtained. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Bryan Jacoby at bjacoby@usdec.org or Shawna Morris at smorris@usdec.org.