Oman is introducing a new barrier to entry for food imports: from 1 July 2027, Oman's Food Safety and Quality Center will only accept Halal certificates issued by bodies it has formally designated. For an Italian food company that exports, or wants to export, to Oman, this means the certificate matters — but who signs it matters even more.
Oman's Food Safety and Quality Center has announced that from 1 July 2027, food shipments imported into the country will only be cleared if accompanied by a Halal certificate issued by a certification body formally designated by the Center itself. Certificates issued by bodies not included in the official Omani list will be rejected, regardless of their validity in other markets. This was reported by HalalFocus on 28 September 2026.
Oman is a growing Gulf market, a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with a Muslim-majority population and an import system that until now has accepted Halal certificates from a relatively wide range of international bodies. The new rule changes the game: just any Halal certificate will no longer be enough. You will need one issued by a body that Oman explicitly recognises.
This mechanism is not new internationally — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Indonesia have adopted similar systems for years — but every time a new country introduces it, companies that did not prepare in time find themselves with containers held at customs or orders cancelled at the last minute.
When a country like Oman creates its own list of designated bodies, each certification body must apply for recognition, undergo a documentary assessment and, often, an on-site audit. The duration of this process ranges from a few months to more than a year. The 1 July 2027 date may seem far off, but given the technical time needed for designation, companies that do not act by the end of 2026 risk finding themselves in a grey area just as the rule comes into force.
For an Italian company, the critical point is this: your Halal certification body must be on the Omani list. If it is not, the certificate the company already holds will have no legal value for imports into Oman from that date.
Oman's move is part of a structural trend across the Islamic world: importing countries want to control the quality and reliability of Halal certification directly, and they do so by building official registers of authorised bodies. This means that choosing a certification body is no longer purely a commercial or cost matter, but a strategic decision that determines which markets a company can operate in and which it cannot.
An Italian company working with a body recognised across a wide network of countries — Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand — starts from a position of structural advantage: the likelihood that such a body will also obtain Omani designation is significantly higher than for a body with limited or regional recognitions.
The 1 July 2027 date leaves little more than nine months. Considering that designation procedures can take several months, that contract renewals and certification audits have their own schedules, and that companies need to plan production in advance, the useful window for action closes sooner than it seems. Companies that wait until spring 2027 to notice the problem will almost certainly not make it in time.
The practical advice is simple: contact your Halal certification body today, ask for a written answer on its designation status in Oman, and weigh your options on the basis of that answer. If you do not yet have Halal certification and you export, or want to export, to Oman, now is the time to start.
Source: HalalFocus, 28 September 2026 — Oman to reject Halal certificates from non-designated bodies starting July 2027.
Tell us about your product and your target markets: the quote is free and arrives within 24 hours.