The National Standardization Agency (BSN) has remained unable to promote standardization as a non-tariff barrier to protect the local industry from the global market’s volatility, legislators said Thursday.
The House of Representatives’ Commission VI on trade and industry member Nurdin Tampubolon told BSN, as the sole authority to issue national standard (SNI) of products, to set a certain standard for imported goods that flood the market.
"By doing so, substandard products, both from overseas and local but illegal, will be unable to enter the market. That will definitely benefit domestic entrepreneurs.”
Another lawmaker, Hendrawan Supratikno, said BSN had failed to explore its decisive role.
"The BSN has been in place for years but yet we still find a huge number of imported goods that are low in quality and do not meet the required standards although they are sold at a very cheap price," he said.
Hendrawan added many domestic entrepreneurs were struggling to fight cheap imported goods.
"We all know that cheap imported products, mostly from China, are low quality. Therefore, if those substandard ones can be prevented from entering the markets, domestic producers will enjoy broader opportunities to sell their products.”
BSN Chairman Bambang Setiadi said the agency would be toothless if it worked alone.
"To implement full benefit of standardization needs coordination among all stakeholders like the Industry Ministry, the Trade Ministry, businessman communities, and many more.”
Another lawmaker Nyoman Dhamantra said some institutions, like the Trade Ministry and the Industry Ministry, has yet to manifest their commitment to supporting BSN.
The BSN has so far issued 348 SNIs, mostly for food and agriculture products, up by 35 percent from 257 SNIs issued in 2008. (bbs)
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