So they mean they're not halal at the moment? Pretty stupid admission. Why not keep your mouth shut and bribe some officials? Have they never done business in this country or something?
Three key industries - food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmacy - are bracing for hefty additional costs and to risk losing trillions of rupiah in margins if the nation presses ahead with new halal certification procedures under a new bill, associations say.
Under the new halal certification bill, halal certificates and labels will be compulsory - as opposed to voluntary - for these three sectors, not only for all ingredients but also for all equipment used during the production process, meaning new costs.
The Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (Gapmmi) argues although certification and labeling fees were only Rp 1 million for small and medium enterprises (UMKM) and Rp 2 million for big firms, the bill will have a long-run impact.
Gapmmi regulation director Franky Sibarani said Tuesday that these three sectors use a significant amount of imported materials in their production processes.
“Small and medium enterprises will bear very high production costs as certifications and labels require special product treatment during [the] production process ranging from materials to equipment,” said Franky.
“Every [item of] material and equipment has to be verified whether it fits the halal category,” he said, adding that a food and beverage product could have 15 ingredients; every cosmetic and pharmacy product could have 50 to 100 ingredients which were mostly imported. (nia)
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