HRS 1:2026 — Annex E

Certification mark, certificate, and rules of use

Public consultation draft — draft v0.1 — issued 2026-09-07

This is a consultation draft, not an operative standard

The scheme described here is not yet certifying. No certificates have been issued and the Approved Supplier Register is not yet populated. Nothing in this document may be relied on as evidence of certification.

It is published for comment before it is finalised, because a certification standard that cannot be read by the people it governs is not a standard. Clause 12.2 commits us to publishing it; we would rather publish it early and be corrected.

Comments are invited until 2 November 2026. See How to respond. Passages marked ⚖️ are open questions on which we are specifically seeking views. Passages marked 📋 will be reconciled against OIC/SMIIC standards before issue.

This document is a scheme design. It is not a fatwa and does not purport to state Islamic law; questions of Shari'ah are for our Shari'ah Committee, whose rulings will be published with their reasoning.

Companion to HRS 1:2026 draft v0.2, clause 8. Visual design is out of scope here; this annex specifies rules, not artwork.

E1. What the mark is for

The mark exists to let a consumer answer one question in a few seconds, standing in a doorway: is this place certified, at what level, and is that still true today?

Everything below follows from that. A mark that is beautiful but cannot be verified is a mark worth forging — and counterfeit halal labels, together with false claims of certification by another body, are the two most commonly prosecuted halal frauds on record (Wiley Ch 15 §15.7.2).

E2. Mark variants — exactly three

No other variant exists. No "premium", "gold", "member", "partner", or anniversary marks. A family of marks trains consumers that the differences are decorative.

E2.1 The Class B wording is not optional and not separable

The disclosure is part of the mark, not a caption beside it. It may not be:

• Rendered smaller than the primary wording, or in lower contrast
• Placed on a separate line that can be cropped, folded, or covered
• Omitted in any language version (HRS 1 cl. 8.6)
• Translated into a softer form — a translation that does not say alcohol is served is a Critical non-conformity

Class B exists because Baku's market requires it. The disclosure is the entire reason Class B does not corrode Class A. Any erosion of E2.1 collapses the two classes into one, and with them the value of the scheme.

E2.2 Variant P confers no halal claim

Provisional wording may not appear alongside the word halal used as a claim, may not use the Class A or B colourway, and may not be displayed at the entrance in a position a consumer would read as certification.

E3. The certificate

Every certificate carries (HRS 1 cl. 8.2):

One site, one certificate. Group and franchise operations receive one certificate per site. A brand is never certified — a kitchen is.

E3.1 The QR code

• Resolves to the public register entry, not to a PDF and not to a marketing page
• The destination shows current status including suspended and withdrawn
• Remains resolvable after expiry, showing the expired state — a dead link lets an expired certificate keep working
• Verifiable by any member of the public with no app and no login

This is where the standard and the Süfrə platform meet. The register is the authority; the certificate on the wall is only a pointer to it. See Annex H for the data schema.

E4. Where the mark may and may not appear

Permitted: entrance and premises signage; menus; the establishment's own website and social media; declared platform listings; packaging for food prepared at the certified site; delivery vehicles operating from it; staff uniform.

Not permitted:

• On any site, kitchen or brand not named on the certificate
• On products not prepared at the certified site (includes bought-in cakes, bread, and packaged goods resold)
• On vehicles or catering operations working from an uncertified kitchen
• In investor, franchise or property material implying certification of an uncertified group
• After expiry, suspension or withdrawal — see E6

Partial scope must be shown as partial. Where a hotel's banquet kitchen is certified but its lobby café is not, the mark appears only in the certified operation and the uncertified one carries no reference to it (HRS 1 cl. 8.3).

E5. Digital and platform use

E5.1 Every platform listing must state the correct class and, for Class B, carry the E2.1 disclosure (HRS 1 cl. 8.5, 8.6).

E5.2 Where a platform's interface offers only a generic "halal" toggle with no room for the Class B disclosure, a Class B establishment shall not enable that toggle, and shall place the disclosure in the description field instead. An unqualified platform halal flag on a Class B venue is a Critical non-conformity.

E5.3 Where a third party has created a listing the establishment cannot edit, HRS 1 cl. 8.5(d) applies: notify us within 14 days of becoming aware. We will pursue correction with the platform. The establishment must show it attempted correction — a screenshot of the request.

E5.2 is the most likely real-world failure of the whole scheme, and it is a design flaw in other people's software, not in the restaurant. Aggregators offer a binary halal filter. Class B does not fit in a binary. This will need to be raised with the major platforms directly, and it is an argument for Süfrə's own listing being the canonical one.

E6. Expiry, suspension, withdrawal

On suspension or withdrawal we update the public register immediately, so the QR on any uncollected certificate tells the truth even while signage is still coming down.

Continued display after the deadline is a Critical non-conformity and, following withdrawal, is misrepresentation which we will pursue publicly and, where warranted, legally.

E7. Our obligations regarding the mark

• The mark is our property; use is licensed, never sold, and ends with certification
• We publish the mark artwork and these rules free and publicly, so anyone can check whether a displayed mark is genuine (HRS 1 cl. 12.2)
• We maintain the register such that any mark can be verified by anyone at any time (cl. 12.3)
• We act on reported misuse by uncertified businesses, including publicly

A scheme that does not defend its mark against non-members is telling members their fee buys nothing. Enforcement against outsiders is a service to members, not an optional extra.

E8. Consultation questions

1. Artwork and colourway — design brief needed. Constraints: legible at doorway distance; Class B disclosure legible at the same distance; works in one colour; works at 16px for digital use; distinct from AZSTANDART, AzeSERT and other bodies' marks.
2. Language of the mark itself — Azerbaijani only, or AZ + EN + AR trilingual on the physical mark? Trilingual serves the Gulf tourism market directly but crowds the design and makes E2.1 harder to render legibly.
3. Certificate physical format — printed with security features, or plain print relying entirely on QR verification? QR-only is cheaper and arguably more secure, since the verification is live rather than visual.
4. Numbering scheme for certificates and supplier IDs — must be settled before Annex H.
5. Trademark registration in Azerbaijan — required before first issue, or E7 is unenforceable. This has a lead time and should be started now.

E9. In preparation

• E-F1 Mark artwork, in all approved lockups and languages
• E-F2 Brand and reproduction guidelines — minimum sizes, clear space, colour, misuse examples
• E-F3 Certificate template
• E-F4 Mark licence agreement (contractual, signed at certification)
• E-F5 Misuse notification and takedown letter templates