Global Halal Standards Explained
Published by HalalBoss, an independent register on 6 July 2026
There is no single global halal standard. A halal certification body works to a national or regional standard such as Malaysia's MS 1500, the Gulf GSO 2055 series, the OIC/SMIIC standards, the UAE.S 2055 series or Indonesia's HAS 23000. JAKIM recognition assesses whether a body's standard and procedures meet Malaysian requirements, which are anchored in MS 1500.
A halal certification body does not certify against a single worldwide rulebook. It works to a published halal standard, and several major standards exist side by side, each issued by a different national or regional body. Understanding which standard sits behind a certificate, and how that standard relates to Malaysia’s own requirements, is the starting point for reading any halal credential. This guide maps the landscape of halal standards a certification body can work to, and shows where JAKIM recognition fits.
Why there is no single global halal standard
Halal is defined in Islamic law, but the way that law is written into a testable technical document differs from one authority to the next. Governments and standards organisations have each published their own halal standard, and these standards agree on the core prohibitions while diverging on contested points such as animal stunning, whether a non-Muslim may perform slaughter, and the treatment of certain species. Reviews of the field conclude plainly that no single halal standard is recognised across every market, which is why an exporter often meets more than one standard for the same product.
The practical consequence is that a certificate is only as clear as the standard named on it. A certification body that certifies to the Gulf standard is answering a different technical document than one certifying to the Malaysian or the OIC/SMIIC standard, even when the end claim, that a product is halal, reads the same.
The main halal standards at a glance
| Standard | Issuing body | Region | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS 1500:2019 | Department of Standards Malaysia (used by JAKIM) | Malaysia | General requirements for halal food: production, preparation, handling, storage |
| GSO 2055-1:2015 | GSO, the GCC Standardization Organization | Gulf / GCC states | General requirements for halal food |
| GSO 2055-2:2015 | GSO | Gulf / GCC states | Requirements and guidelines for halal food certification bodies |
| OIC/SMIIC 1:2019 | SMIIC, Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries | OIC member states | General requirements for halal food |
| OIC/SMIIC 2:2019 | SMIIC | OIC member states | Requirements for halal certification bodies (conformity assessment) |
| UAE.S 2055-1:2015 | ESMA, Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology | United Arab Emirates | General requirements for halal products, adopting the GSO 2055 series |
| HAS 23000 | LPPOM MUI, under the Indonesian Ulema Council | Indonesia (legacy voluntary scheme) | Halal Assurance System criteria for certification |
MS 1500: the Malaysian standard
MS 1500 is Malaysia’s national standard for halal food, covering production, preparation, handling and storage. It is developed through the Department of Standards Malaysia and applied by JAKIM within the Malaysian certification scheme. MS 1500 does not stand alone: it sits alongside further Malaysian Standards for halal logistics, animal-derived materials and packaging, giving Malaysia one of the most systematised standard sets in the industry. Because the standard is published and repeatable, it functions as a benchmark that buyers cite even outside Malaysia. Our guide to what MS 1500 covers goes into the document in detail.
GSO 2055 and UAE.S 2055: the Gulf standards
The GSO 2055 series is the halal standard of the GSO, the standards organisation of the Gulf Cooperation Council states. GSO 2055-1:2015 sets general requirements for halal food across the supply chain, while GSO 2055-2:2015 addresses the certification bodies themselves. Slaughter rules for the region sit in a companion standard, GSO 993:2015. Individual Gulf states adopt the GSO series as national standards: the United Arab Emirates publishes the UAE.S 2055 series through ESMA, the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology, as part of its national halal scheme.
OIC/SMIIC 1 and 2: the harmonisation effort
The OIC/SMIIC standards are published by SMIIC, the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries, which serves the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. OIC/SMIIC 1:2019 sets general requirements for halal food, and OIC/SMIIC 2:2019 sets requirements for the halal certification bodies that assess conformity. These standards are widely described as the leading harmonisation initiative, because they are drafted with input from multiple OIC member states rather than a single country. Adoption is growing but not universal, so OIC/SMIIC compliance sits alongside, rather than replacing, the national schemes.
HAS 23000: Indonesia’s legacy reference
HAS 23000 is the Halal Assurance System criteria developed under LPPOM MUI, the assessment institute of the Indonesian Ulema Council. It governed the voluntary Indonesian certification scheme for years and shaped how many companies built their internal halal assurance systems. Since Indonesia introduced mandatory certification under its halal product law, the certification function moved to the government body BPJPH and now references Indonesian National Standards, yet HAS 23000 remains a heavily cited reference point in the industry.
How JAKIM recognition maps to these standards
JAKIM recognition is not itself a standard. It is Malaysia’s formal acceptance of a certification body based outside the country, and it operates on top of whichever standard that body already works to. When a body applies, JAKIM assesses its procedures, its syariah oversight and its technical competence against Malaysian requirements, which are anchored in MS 1500. A recognised body may certify to GSO 2055, OIC/SMIIC 1, its own national standard or a combination, provided JAKIM judges the outcome equivalent to the Malaysian benchmark.
This is why recognition and the underlying standard answer different questions. The standard tells you what technical rulebook a certificate was measured against. Recognition tells you that an independent national authority, JAKIM, has audited the body issuing that certificate and accepts it for the Malaysian market. Neither replaces the other, and neither is the same as accreditation, the competence attestation that accreditation bodies grant against documents such as ISO/IEC 17065. Our guides on recognition versus accreditation and what JAKIM recognition is unpack that distinction.
For anyone reading a halal certificate, the takeaway is to identify two things: the standard named on it, from the table above, and the recognition status of the body that issued it. A certificate written to a clear published standard, from a body that holds current JAKIM recognition, is the combination Malaysian importers rely on.