Agency for Halal Quality Certification (AHQC)

The Agency for Halal Quality Certification (AHQC), known in Bosnian as Agencija za certificiranje halal kvalitete, is an institution founded and wholly owned by the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established in 2006 with its seat in Tuzla, it gained the status of an independent legal entity in 2007 through registration with the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its mandate covers halal certification of products and services together with education, advisory work, and promotion of halal, and it issued its first halal certificates in September 2006.

Certification is conducted against the national halal standard BAS 1049, Halal food, requirements and measures, registered with the Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first edition appeared in 2007, the second edition of 2010 was aligned with the OIC/SMIIC 1 guidelines on halal food, and the current edition is BAS 1049:2023. The Fatwa Council of the Islamic Community confirmed the standard’s conformity with Islamic rules. AHQC’s certification scheme was developed in line with ISO/IEC 17065 and ISO/IEC 17067, and its process spans producer education, certification audits, surveillance after certification, and laboratory analysis performed with accredited laboratories.

Beyond Bosnia and Herzegovina, the agency signed cooperation agreements on halal certification in Serbia in 2007 and Montenegro in 2009, completed certificate registration for exports to the United Arab Emirates in 2010, and began certifying hospitality and tourism operations in 2011, when it also became the authorized CrescentRating representative for Southeast Europe. JAKIM in Malaysia lists AHQC among its recognised international halal certification bodies. The agency is a member of AHC-Europa and the IHI Alliance and helped found the world association of halal certification bodies, AHAC, in 2019.