BPOM Ready to Mandate 2026 Economic Census Completion for Business Licensing

The Food and Drug Authority (BPOM) has announced its readiness to support the 2026 Economic Census (SE 2026) by integrating the census questionnaire into its service systems, requiring businesses to complete it before accessing registration or licensing services. BPOM Head Taruna Ikrar stated in Jakarta on Tuesday that this move responds to a proposal from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, who highlighted difficulties in surveying large companies due to internal corporate procedures and restricted access to industrial estates. “BPOM welcomes this synergy with BPS for the 2026 Economic Census, as it not only captures the national economic landscape but also generates data on business actors related to BPOM,” Ikrar said. He emphasised that census data is vital for policy formulation, enhancing public services, and strengthening the supervision of drugs and food. Nationally, the SE 2026 has reached 62.82 percent completion. However, out of a target of 189,315 business entities associated with BPOM, only 32,515, or 17.18 percent, have been successfully recorded. To address the shortfall, BPS proposed leveraging unique identifiers such as marketing authorisation numbers (NIE), business identification numbers (NIB), or national identity numbers (NIK) as a basis for verifying questionnaire submissions. Both agencies agreed to intensify technical coordination on system integration, business data matching, and the refinement of verification mechanisms. BPS will also provide a questionnaire link to BPOM to implement the service integration. With cross-sector support, the census results are expected to form a robust foundation for national economic policy-making and improved public service effectiveness for the next decade.