The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) has urged the government to improve market surveillance in order to increase product standardization and protect consumer and producer rights.
"Product standardization is important for consumers as it guarantees quality products and for producers to increase the value of their brands," Indah Sukmaningsih from YLKI said.
She said Indonesian consumers weren't usually concerned about product standardization when buying things as they usually bought either branded or cheap goods.
The government has stopped funding YLKI's market surveillances, which were conducted to determine whether a company had followed regulated standards in order to obtain certification.
"We urge the government to re-empower YLKI to allow them to surveillance the market," Sukmaningsih said.
General secretary of the national accreditation committee (KAN) Sunarya said implementing product standardization was important for the country to compete in the ASEAN single market.
"If the products have been certified by the national certification agency, producers can sell them overseas without having to register them again for certification in Singapore or Malaysia for example." he said.
There are 20 certification agencies in the country, with state-owned Sucofindo being the largest. (rff/**)
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