Indonesia to revise Halal Product Guarantee Law in October to speed up certification process
JAKARTA – Indonesia will make revisions to its Halal Product Guarantee Law No. 33/2014 to speed up the certification process.
The new revised regulations are expected to come into force next month as the government plans to issue an omnibus bill, Prof. Sukoso, head of the one-year-old national halal agency BPJPH told Salaam Gateway.
“Last month, we along with the minister of religious affairs, Commission VIII and legislation committee of the House of Representatives agreed to revise regulations on halal product guarantee,” said Prof. Sukoso.
Revisions will affect 18 articles in Law No. 33/2014, several articles of government regulation number 31/2019 that implements the regulation of the law, and regulation No. 26/2019 on the Organization of Halal Product Guarantees.
“Through the new omnibus bill, basically we want to improve five areas regarding halal product guarantee: the roles of the different authorities, simplify business processes and permits, create more flexible and pro business regulations, speed up our services and facilitate certification for micro and small businesses.”
He added that with the revisions, the mechanisms and processes for halal certification will be much faster and simpler, from the current 97 working days to 21 working days.
There will also be allowances for universities and Islamic organizations to become halal inspection agency (LPH) partners and issuing fatwa for BPJPH. Currently the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) is the sole LPH and fatwa body.
HALAL CERTIFICATION WORKFLOW |
OLD REGULATION (law no 33/ 2014) - up to 97 working days |
NEW REGIME (omnibus bill) - 21 working days |
|
1. Application sent by businesses |
- |
- |
|
2. Documents verification by BPJPH |
10 working days |
2 working days |
|
3. Appointing LPH partners |
5 working days |
|
|
4. Product halal testing/ audit by LPH |
40 - 60 working days (the longer time for foreign products) |
15 working days for product testing and results sent directly to fatwa institution, instead of circling back to BPJPH first |
|
5. LPH sending back testing/ audit results to BPJPH |
5 working days |
|
|
6. Fatwa by MUI |
30 working days |
3 working days, and MUI will not be the sole fatwa-issuing body |
|
7. Halal certificate issuance by BPJPH |
7 working days |
1 working day |
OTHER CHANGES
In addition to revisions on 18 articles, three new articles will be introduced.
1. For micro and small businesses, halal certification is mandatory in the form of self-declaration, which is in accordance with the standard from BPJPH that will be defined (Article 4a).
“For micro and small businesses with product criteria that are low-risk or zero risk, they can voluntarily self-declare that their products are halal but there are assistance standards that will be designed later,” said Prof. Sukoso. Low-risk or zero risk products include those that are intrinsically halal such as raw vegetables.
“We’ll keep monitoring these micro and small businesses to make sure their halal compliance. Also, for micro and small businesses with turnover of less than 1 billion rupiah ($67,332) per year, their halal certification fee will be waived,” he added.
2. New businesses that apply for halal certification for products including previously halal-certified ingredients will directly get halal certification within 1 day (article 34 a), according to Prof. Sukoso.
“For instance, companies apply for product A with the ingredients B,C,D,E,F that in the past all secured halal certificates, they don’t need to go through the audit process by an LPH and fatwa committee meetings by MUI or Islamic organizations. They can skip all these processes and we can issue a halal certificate within the same day of their application. With our digital system, it allows us to issue halal certificates in a day in this case,” said the BPJPH head.
3. In the event that MUI or other Islamic organizations are not able to issue a fatwa decision within three working days, BPJPH has the authority to take over the process (article 3 5a), according to Prof. Sukoso.
JPH Law Article Number |
Substantive Changes(Where an item is moved to government regulation 31/2019 from ministry of religious affairs regulation 26/2019, it signals the need for greater national or inter-ministry cooperation.) |
|
1 para (10) |
Removing MUI wording to allow other Islamic organizations to be fatwa-issuing bodies. If fatwa for halal products only comes from MUI, it slows down halal certification process and leads to monopoly. |
|
7 |
Will add that incorporated Islamic organizations will be able to issue fatwa, instead of relying solely on MUI |
|
10 |
Make clear that authority of halal auditor certification and halal inspection agency (LPH) accreditation is BPJPH, not MUI |
|
13 |
Remove halal inspection agency (LPH) accreditation clause. LPHs will be regulated under government regulation 31/2019. They are currently under ministry of religious affairs regulation 26/2019. |
|
14 |
Remove this article, clause on halal inspection agency (LPH) will be presented in greater detail under government regulation 31/2019 |
|
15 |
Adding paragraph (2), which is further explanation on halal auditor to fall under government regulation 31/2019. Halal auditors are currently under ministry of religious affairs regulation 26/2019. |
|
16 |
Adding that halal auditors, and not just halal inspection agencies (LPH), will be regulated under government regulation 31/2019 |
|
28 |
Adding further explanation that halal auditors will be regulated under government regulation 31/2019, and not under ministry of religious affairs regulation 26/2019 |
|
29 |
Adding 2 days deadline for application status update, further explanation will be in government regulation 31/2019 |
|
30 |
Further explanation that LPH will fall under government regulation 31/2019, not ministry of religious affairs regulation 26/2019 |
|
31 |
Adding phrase “further explanation on halal testing/audit” under government regulations so as to give legal uniformity and certainty |
|
32 |
Adding phrase that halal inspection agencies (LPH) will directly send audit results to MUI or another Islamic organization for fatwa, without going to BPJPH first |
|
33 |
Adding phrase that issuing fatwa can be done by MUI and incorporated Islamic organizations, decision must be made in 3 days |
|
35 |
Accelerating halal certificate issuance from BPJPH to 1 day, from 7 days previously |
|
40 |
Further explanation that the halal label will come under government regulation, previously under ministry of religious affairs 26/2019 |
|
42 |
Adding further explanation on 4-year halal certification validity period under government regulations. Further explanation will include if the halal certificate still holds if there are any changes to ingredients, for example, during the validity period. |
|
44 |
Removing halal certification fee for micro and small businesses |
|
45 |
Adding further explanation on the participation of registered or incorporated societies or Islamic organizations as halal champions. This will fall under government regulations. Societies and organizations are encouraged to raise awareness of halal and halal certification and to report to authorities if they suspect any products or companies do not comply with halal regulations. |
(Reporting by Yosi Winosa; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim [email protected])
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