Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
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first-mover advantage by getting products which they export to Islamic countries or
countries where Islamic minorities live. Last but not least, the Halal certification issue
could be viewed by the OIC member countries within a broader perspective of labeling,
advertisement and standardization. SMIIC has already published 4 standards:
o OIC/SMIIC 1: 2011 General Guidelines on Halal Food
o OIC/SMIIC 2: 2011 Guidelines for Bodies providing Halal Certification
o OIC/SMIIC 3: 2011 Guidelines for the Accreditation body Acccrediting Halal
Certification Bodies
o OIC/SMIIC 4: 2018 Halal Cosmetics – General Requirements
The first standard is for Halal Food product producers, the second for agencies that
grant Halal certifications, and third is for accreditation bodies that accreditate
certification agencies.
The OIC member countries could envision that the use of existing set of OIC/SMIIC Halal
Standards would set the foundation for a Halal quality infrastructure which is based on
a common Halal Standard to be implemented by all OIC member countries that also
signify health, safety, and environmental protection standards as in the case the CE
marking of the European Economic Area and would help to eliminate any technical
barriers to trade regarding Halal.
SMIIC also has a Technical Committee on Agriculture: TC6-Agricultural Products. The
committee is responsible for standardization in the field of agricultural, horticultural,
and dairy products, food products of livestock, the products of poultry and bee raising,
the edible products of forestry, and any and all products raised or produced on farms
and processed or manufactured products, regarding, but not limited to, terminology,
sampling, methods of test and analysis, product specifications, food and feed safety and
quality management and requirements for packaging, storage and transportation.
4. The Trade Preferential Systemwithin the OIC: The large number of existing bilateral
and multilateral trade agreements of the OIC member countries with non-OIC countries
stands out as a source of concern since such trade agreements pose the risk of limiting
the scope of trade policy coherence within the OIC. Accelerating the implementation of
the Trade Preferential System among the OIC Member States (TPS-OIC) is thus an
important element that would be on the policy agenda.
5. Promotion of niche products: The OIC member countries face competition from each
other in certain agricultural products and in certain markets around the globe as their
geography, climate conditions and factor endowments exhibit some degree of similarity.
This makes the promotion of intra-OIC agricultural trade a particularly challenging
objective, and policies that aim further trade facilitation within the OIC could be
designed and implemented. These policies range from product diversification and
trademarking to marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. More specifically, the
OIC countries may promote the niche agricultural products of their fellow OIC countries
under a reciprocal understanding of benefits.
6. Commercial cooperation: The OIC member countries differ in relative abundance of
land and natural resources and of financial funds and credit. This type of diversity is a
source of complementarity and opens a window of opportunity in commercial
cooperation. There already exist some joint ventures among the OIC countries where