BPOM Explains Rules on Medicine Sales in Minimarkets and Sanctions for Violators

The Head of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), Taruna Ikrar, has explained that BPOM Regulation Number 5 of 2026 is intended to ensure the quality and safety of medicines received by the public. This will be achieved through the supervision of drug and medicinal ingredient management in pharmaceutical service facilities and other premises, including drug stores, minimarkets, and hypermarkets. The regulation, which will be implemented in October 2026, focuses on improving the governance of over-the-counter and limited over-the-counter drugs. Through this oversight, the sale of these medicines will regulate dosage and the placement of drugs to maintain their quality. BPOM will also impose sanctions on violators, ranging from warnings to the revocation of licences. Furthermore, BPOM is scrutinising the supervision of cosmetics in Indonesia, a market worth Rp 180 trillion annually that is tainted by illegal products, many of which are sold online. BPOM is collaborating with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs to eradicate these products, having removed 260,000 links in 2025 and a total of 1.3 million links over three years. The agency is also committed to supporting efforts to control non-communicable diseases by limiting the consumption of sugar, salt, and fat through a draft revision of the BPOM regulation on Nutritional Value Information on Processed Food Labels.