The Italian and Spanish Legal Experiences with Halal Certifying Bodies

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the Italian and Spanish experiences with halal certifying bodies in a legal perspective, and to draw some conclusions about their common trends as well as their differences. This analysis will be introduced by some remarks on the issues revolving around the notion of halal: the main challenge posed to Italy and Spain in the legal regulation of halal certifying bodies is the tension between the need to preserve pluralism – an intrinsic quality of Islam, as well as a characteristic regarded by the European Court of Human Rights as indissociable from a democratic society – and the interest manifested by some social and economic actors in standardization. Next, I will examine the impact that the legal regulation of religion and, in particular, of Islam has on halal certification in Italy and Spain. It is interesting to note that the application of common principles in the two countries does not result in the choice of the same legal solution when it comes to regulate halal certifying bodies. Finally, I will focus on Italy’s and Spain’s most interesting experiences: the trademark Halal Italia, promoted by an Inter-Ministerial Convention in the former, and Junta Islámica’s Marca de Garantía Halal in the latter.