The Ministry of Economy and Commerce is proposing to introduce fines for violating the requirements of the Law «On the Halal Industry in the Kyrgyz Republic.» Deputy Minister Sultan Akhmatov announced at a meeting of the Committee on Finance, Budget, Entrepreneurship, and Competition Development of the Parliament.
According to him, the Law «On the Halal Industry in the Kyrgyz Republic» stipulates that violations of this law entail liability under the Code of Offenses of the Kyrgyz Republic.
However, the corresponding amendments have not yet been made to the Code itself. Specifically, the draft law proposes adding an article to the Code of Offenses titled «Violation of the Legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Halal Industry.» It provides for fines of 7,500 soms for individuals and 23,000 soms for legal entities for violations related to the release of halal products and halal services without conformity confirmation documents.
For violations of the conformity confirmation procedure for halal products and halal services, it is proposed to impose a fine of 13,000 soms on legal entities. Cases of violations under this article will be reviewed by the authorized healthcare body.
The deputy minister noted that there have been cases in Kyrgyzstan where companies received halal product certificates in violation of these regulations. «The law specifies the conditions for how accreditation should be conducted. There have been cases where they claimed halal, but the products contained pork. This was the case with Riha company; it was improperly accredited. We revoked its license,» the deputy minister said.
Following the discussion, the committee members approved the bill in the first reading.
