G/TBT/W/690  
 
25 November 2019  
(19-8007) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
EUROPEAN UNION — AMENDMENTS TO THE DIREC TIVE 2009/28/EC, REN EWABLE 
ENERGY DIRECTIVE  
STATEMENT BY INDONESIA  TO THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS T O TRADE  
13 – 15 NOVEMBER  2019 
The following communication, dated 13 November  2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Indonesia . 
 
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1.1.  The Government of Indonesia would like to reiterate our statement at the last meeting of June 
2019, regarding the STC on the Amendment of EU Directive of Renewa ble Energy (EU RED II) as 
well as the Delegated Regulation. We are very concerned about the reply given by the EU and we 
notice that EU did not offer any positive responses to our concern. The Government of Indonesia 
also considers that EU did not do any n otification to this committee so the content of the TBT 
agreement will be left out in the future negotiation. The Government of Indonesia understands that 
EU did notify EU RED 2009/28 in this committee but intentionally do not notify when the amendment 
is enforced (article 2.9).  
1.2.  Regarding, the WTO agreement, we all understand that there is no rule that member states 
should regulate biofuel in particular manners because all commodity is treated similarly. The EU RED 
2018/2001 raises our concern related to W TO TBT agreement because the EU treated biofuel 
differently on the basis of land sustainability criteria. The Government of Indonesia, therefore would 
like to attract your attention for the following statement related to the implementation of TBT on the 
mention directive that in some way put our palm oil biofuel in a situation which is unfavourable 
compare to other biofuels that produced in Europe and in other countries which is put in the same 
category as "like products ". 
1.3.  The following article is very much  related to TBT and we would like all sides to have a look at 
it carefully that by implementing the EU RED 2018/2001 our food and feed crop will fall outside of 
the TBT. The Government of Indonesia perceives this is the act of discrimination as related to article 
2.1: 
Article 2.1.  
Members shall ensure that in respect of technical regulations, products imported from 
the territory of any Member shall be accorded treatment no less favourable  than that 
accorded to like products of national origin and to like products originating in 
any other country .  
1.4.  The most important word in this article are "no less favorable " and "like products of 
national origin and to like products originating in any other country ". 
1.5.  The four food and feed products e.g. rapeseed oil , sunflower oil, soybean oil, and palm oil are 
like products. The only different it can make is the land sustainability criteria in the Directive 2009/28 
and 2018/2001 which define in article 17 and article 29 in the latest directive. There are two sets of  
sustainability criteria for biofuel. The biofuel must be sustainable to be counted toward the 
mandatory renewable energy target and to be eligible for financial support. The two main sets of 
the criteria which must be fulfilled cumulatively are greenhouse  gasses emission (GHG) and the G/TBT/W/690  
 
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  latest additional is Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) emission which calculated based on the model 
and assumptions.  
1.6.  The four food and feed products are used for biofuel blending as FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) 
to produce bio fuel with the content of renewable energy. As you may be aware, the demand of palm 
oil is increasing lately and the price of palm oil surges. Means, that the demand of palm oil is still 
there in the EU market.  
1.7.  In particular, the EU implemented unfairly the  notion of 'ILUC' so as to discriminate against 
palm oil -based biofuel and restriction its access to the EU market. ILUC was implemented in such a 
way that it discriminates the use of palm oil using mechanism of "phase out " and categorizing palm 
oil as a h igh ILUC risk is very unfair. This is due to the fact that categorizing palm oil as a high ILUC 
risk do not have any scientific basis neither neutral consideration (article 2.2 TBT). ILUC based only 
on assumptions and cannot be measured and it cannot be do cumented.  
Article 2.2  
Members shall ensure that technical regulations are not prepared, adopted or applied 
with a view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade. 
For this purpose, technical regulations shall not be more  trade -restrictive than 
necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective, taking account of the risks non -fulfilment would 
create. Such legitimate objectives are, inter alia: national security requirements; the 
prevention of deceptive practices; protection of hu man health or safety, animal or plant 
life or health, or the environment. In assessing such risks, relevant elements of 
consideration are, inter alia: available scientific and technical information, related 
processing technology or intended end -uses of pro ducts  
1.8.  We are very concern on the noble objective of the directive which may be directed to mitigate 
climate change, we understand that this is very much related to the EU legitimate objective. The 
base of these objectives is related to Kyoto Protocol and P aris Agreement, in which, we also a 
member of those two international agreements and have the same obligation as the EU.  
1.9.  Even further, Indonesia confirmed to pledge beyond its obligation as non -annex 1 country for 
the emission reduction.  Although Indonesi a is not an industrial country yet, we committed to reduce 
our emission to 29% by 2030 and 41% if international support is provided. So, we feel this ILUC 
criteria do not serve the purpose of mitigating climate change but very much on implementing 
discrimi nation to ban import of palm oil.  
1.10.   The Government of Indonesia is also deeply concerned about the certification process for 
showing compliance with the low ILUC risk criteria. This process does not comply with article 5 of 
TBT Agreement (5.1 and 5.2). The l ow ILUC risk certification process is discriminatory, unnecessarily 
restrictive and relies on concepts that do not conform to international practices governing conformity 
assessment procedures .  
Article 5  
5.1 Members  shall ensure  that, in cases  where  a positive  assurance  of conformity  with 
technical  regulation  or standard  is required  …; 
5.2 When  implementing  the provisions  of paragraph  1, Members  shall ensure  that…;  
1.11.   The Government of Indonesia regrets that the EU, has, so far, failed to respond construct ively 
to its concerns and asks the EU, at this meeting, to finally offer clarity regarding its position so that 
Indonesia and all other WTO members can properly assess whether the EU respects its commitments 
under the TBT agreement.  
1.12.   Thank you for your attention and Indonesia hopes that the respond from EU side can reach 
our side in the very near future and every member of WTO should comply with their responsible 
obligation.  
 
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