Indonesia to postpone halal label deadline
amid industry concerns
JAKARTA: Indonesia will push back by as
much as seven years an October deadline for halal labels on food, drugs and
cosmetics, after industry voiced fears the move could bring chaos and threaten
supplies of life-saving vaccines and other products.
In 2014, the world's biggest
Muslim-majority country adopted a measure for labels certifying whether
products are halal, or suitable for consumption in line with Islamic laws. If
not labeled, they would face sale bans.
A presidential decree giving industries a
transition period of several years to comply with the law now awaits President
Joko Widodo's signature, said Sukoso, the head of the panel overseeing the
process along with Muslim clerics.
"We're preparing the infrastructure
now, for example a halal information system," added Sukoso, who goes by
one name. "We hope the process can run smoothly and we can reach every
corner of Indonesia."
The food industry would be given a deadline
until 2024 to get halal certificates, said Sukoso, the chief of the Halal
Product Assurance Body (BPJPH), though he declined to give a date for
compliance by the drugs industry.
Parulian Simanjuntak, head of the
International Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group representing drug firms, said
government consultations showed the industry would have until 2026 to comply,
but that might not be enough.
"We're still not happy," said
Simanjuntak.
Simanjuntak said the definition of halal
was too strict and would mean life-saving products, such as vaccines or drugs
containing blood, could be barred after the deadline passed.
It would be impossible to force drug
companies to create halal-specific products for Indonesia alone, since the
country has a relatively small share of the global market, he said, adding he
was concerned it could create "some kind of chaos".
Originally intended as a voluntary step,
the law was meant partly to help boost exports to Muslim countries by upgrading
halal certificates issued by a group of clerics, the Indonesian Ulema Council
(MUI), that is recognised by few countries, as it is not a government body.
Getting certification is costly because
businesses have to fly auditors from the MUI to factories overseas to check
that raw materials or steps in manufacturing meet the halal requirements.
The government has not yet announced the
prices of halal certificates in the new scheme, but Sukoso estimated an annual
total cost of 22.5 trillion rupiah (US$1.60 billion) across industries will
yield additional income for the government.
The government has promised to subsidise
certification for 1.6 million small and medium-sized food companies, said Adhi
Lukman, chairman of the Indonesian Food & Beverage Association.
"We are pushing for the BPJPH to work
with other halal certification bodies in other countries, so that our imports
of raw materials can go through faster," Lukman said.
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