G/TBT/W/443  
 
24 March 2016  
(16-1706)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  INDONESIA – HALAL PRODUCT ASSURANCE LAW NO. 33 OF 2014 
STATEMENT BY INDONESIA TO THE COMMITT EE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
9-10 MARCH 2016  
The following communication, dated 21 March 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Indonesia. 
 
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  1.  Indonesia would like to thank the US, Turkish and EU delegations for conveying their comments 
on Indonesia's halal products assurance. Indonesia would like provide responses as follows: 
a. In principle, Law No.33/2014 on Halal Product Assurance is a legal document for halal 
products proven by halal certificate. The objective is to assure security, safety and 
certainty of the available halal products for public consumption and utilization. The Law 
is based on the fact that there are many pr oducts distributed and traded in the market 
cannot be assured of their halalness. The prov ision of halalness of the products has been 
conducted according to the principle of international rules such as protection, justice, 
assurance, accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency. 
b. Concerning the product coverage, Article 4 of the Law states that all products entering, 
distributed and traded in Indonesia must have a halal certificate. This includes food, 
beverages, drugs, cosmetics, chemical prod ucts, biological products and genetically 
engineering products in which the elements and process follows the Sharia so as to assure that it is halal to be consumed and utilized. Meanwhile, the mandatory 
implementation of the halal requirements of those products will be gradually determined.  
c. The Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia is the government 
institution responsible of the halal provision. In addition, the Ministry of Religious Affairs 
will establish the BPJPH or The Implementing Agency of Halal Products Assurance who 
will collaborate with other institutions including the MUI (Indonesian Ulama Councils) to make such necessary arrangements for matters related to halal issues. 
d. Concerning the halal and non halal products, Article 21 of the Law states that the 
location; place and equipment used for slau ghtering processing, storing, packaging, 
distributing, selling and presenting must be separated between halal and non halal products. In addition, they must be mainta ined for its cleanness and hygiene, free of 
najis (defiled) and free of non-halal material at all time. Those provisions are formulated 
according to the international rules i.e. Codex on General Guidelines for Use of the Term "Halal"CAC/GL 24-1997.  
e. Indonesia is in the process of drafting the halal standard namely RSNI for Halal 
Management System i.e. RSNI 099001. The standard is developed by a technical committee on halal, involving relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, for the conformity assessment, in 2015, KAN (National Accreditation Body of Indonesia) has stipulated the 
Halal Accreditation and Certification Scheme.  
f. Regarding transparency, the Ministry of Religion Affairs will develop the Government 
Regulation on the Implementation of Halal Product Assurance. Upon the completion of G/TBT/W/443 
 
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  the Draft Regulation, it will be notified to the TBT Committee. There will be a transitional 
period which will be defined in the Draft Regulation.  
2.  Last but not least, Quran and Sunnah are th e primary indispensable normative references for 
the standards. Moreover, each country has its own fatwa (ruling based on particular religious 
school of thought) and fiqh that developed according to what the society believes. Therefore, the 
use of fatwa and fiqh should be left to each country. 
3.  Indonesia welcomes the United States, Turkis h and the EU Delegations to continue discussing 
the issue bilaterally.  
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