Büyükhelvacıgil, speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Tuesday, stated that CE and TSE marks signify different things. “The CE mark declares that the product meets health and safety requirements, while the TSE mark signifies that the product has been through required production processes and its ingredients have been monitored correctly. They are completely different from each other. TSE is the only certification given specifically to the product. Customers should be certainly looking for TSE marks on goods,” he said.
Asked whether the TSE mark creates any advantages for exports and whether customers abroad have confidence in the mark, Büyükhelvacıgil said: “People surely have a confidence on goods with TSE marks all around the world. Currently there are 85 protocol agreements Turkey signed with 67 countries on TSE marks.
These protocols enable our exports directly to enter the country without waiting for approval in customs.” The TSE also conducts import inspections. With rules recently implemented by the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (DTM), the institute carries out product analysis, Büyükhelvacıgil explained, continuing, “To check on whether a China-based product is in line with our required standards, we also go to China and do audits there.”
‘We should take a share from the halal food trade’
In regard to work by the TSE to set standards for halal food (products prepared in accordance with Islamic law), Büyükhelvacıgil said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the Islamic Development Agency (İKT) on Oct. 14, 2009, with the participation of 25 İKT member countries. The TSE presented all its reports to the İKT, and after the İKT’s approval the institute will start giving halal certification, he explained.
“World trade climbed from $2 trillion to $12 trillion in 2000. Now this figure is about $26-30 trillion. We should not forget that the halal food trade has played an important role in this huge rise,” he said. In the US and Europe, a number of stores with “halal food” certification can be encountered, Büyükhelvacıgil stated, adding, “We should take a share from this trade, too.”
