New halal bill draws ire from industries

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta  Business

Three
key industries — food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmacy — are
bracing for hefty additional costs and to risk losing trillions of
rupiah in margins if the nation presses ahead with new halal
certification procedures under a new bill, associations say.

Under
the new halal certification bill, halal certificates and labels will be
compulsory — as opposed to voluntary — for these three sectors, not
only for all ingredients but also for all equipment used during the
production process, meaning new costs.

The Indonesian Food and
Beverage Association (Gapmmi) argues although certification and
labeling fees were only Rp 1 million for small and medium enterprises
(UMKM) and Rp 2 million for big firms, the bill will have a long-run
impact.
 
Gapmmi regulation director Franky Sibarani said Tuesday
that these three sectors use a significant amount of imported materials
in their production processes.
 
“Small and medium enterprises
will bear very high production costs as certifications and labels
require special product treatment during [the] production process
ranging from materials to equipment,” said Franky.

“Every [item
of] material and equipment has to be verified whether it fits the halal
category,” he said, adding that a food and beverage product could have
15 ingredients; every cosmetic and pharmacy product could have 50 to
100 ingredients which were mostly imported. (nia)