A Halal mark and certification will be issued to foreign beauty products for sale in the UAE to reassure consumers they are Shariah-compliant.

Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma) announced that a rising number of international companies were seeking certification for their products.

The standard mark is due to be launched at the Beautyworld Middle East exhibition which will take place in Dubai on May 26-28.

Esma acting Director-General Abdulla Abdulqader Al Maeeni said,“This mark and certification will be granted to companies or manufacturers claiming to have halal products.

“Now halal has become a marketing tool for many companies. To do that we want to make sure and verify that the product is halal.”

The stamp of halal or certification will extend companies’ reach to the Muslim population and tap well over US$1 trillion market.

According to industry estimates, the halal market is set to reach US$10 trillion over the next 15 years.

Maeeni sai,  “We are introducing to help export halal products to different countries as there are many requirements in term of halal to help them. We have a new complete accreditation system for the halal certification.”

He added that all ingredients in the beauty products have to be halal and in the UAE by default all products are halal.

“Through our port system, we’re making conformity to standardize certificate from the source country. So before exporting to the UAE, the companies should get our certificate for halal to export,” he said.

Last year alone, UAE residents spent nine per cent more on personal care products to Dh 5.3bn (US$1.445bn) and will see the spending rise another half a billion dollar to Dh7.34bn (US$2bn) in five years, according to Euromonitor International.