Indonesia to delay halal label deadline amid concerns

JAKARTA: Indonesia will push back by as much as seven years an October deadline for halal labels on food, drugs and cosmetics, after industry voiced fears that the move could bring chaos and threaten supplies of life-saving vaccines and other products.

In 2014, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country adopted a measure for labels certifying whether products are halal or suitable for consumption in line with Islamic laws. If not labelled, they would face sale bans.

A presidential decree giving industries a transition period of several years to comply with the law now awaits President Joko Widodo’s signature, said Sukoso, the head of the panel overseeing the process along with Muslim clerics.

“We’re preparing the infrastructure now, for example a halal information system,” added Sukoso, who goes by one name.

“We hope the process can run smoothly and that we can reach every corner of Indonesia.”

The food industry would be given a deadline until 2024 to get halal certificates, said Sukoso, the chief of the Halal Product Assurance Body, though he declined to give a date for compliance by the drug industry.

Parulian Simanjuntak, head of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group representing drug firms, said government consultations showed the industry would have until 2026 to comply, but that might not be enough.

He said the definition of halal was too strict and would mean that life-saving products such as vaccines or drugs containing blood could be barred after the deadline passed.

It would be impossible to force drug companies to create halal-specific products for Indonesia alone, since the country has a relatively small share of the global market, he said, adding that he was concerned it could create “some kind of chaos”.