Jakarta (MidLand) – The Halal Product Guarantee Organizing Agency of the Ministry of Religion (BPJPH) declared that the Mandatory Halal October (WHO) 2024 program which solicits economic actors, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises ( MSMEs) to obtain halal certification for their products, will continue as planned and end in October 2024.
“The halal obligation has not been postponed (the deadline),” BPJPH head Muhammad Aqil Irham said during the meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Aqil made this in response to comments from Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (MenKopUKM) Teten Masduki last Monday (1/4), who said that the implementation of mandatory Halal in October 2024 may not be achieved.
Therefore, Minister Teten proposed an acceleration, i.e. that MSMEs with products made from halal raw materials be given a green way, so that MSME actors can realize self-declare without long procedures.
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“I don’t think Pak Teten said it would be extended (WHO 2024), yes, it wouldn’t even be extended,” Aqil said.
Currently, Aqil said his party continues to make efforts to accelerate the acquisition of halal certification for local products, in the form of raising awareness among economic actors, as well as working on risk mitigation for products that have not received certification .
It is known that products that do not bear or do not have the halal “stamp” risk receiving various sanctions, one of which is the withdrawal of the product from circulation.
While the WHO’s 2024 deadline has not been extended, Aqil said the BPJPH plans to grant relief to small businesses that have not received certification until after the specified deadline.
“Maybe there is a scenario, then there will be a relaxation of the sanctions aspect, yes, but halal will not be mandatory, but the sanctions aspect could be relatively lighter, there will be a revision of the rules on sanctions for micro and microorganisms”. small ones, but for medium and large ones it will still work,” he said.
Aqil revealed that to date around four million products have received halal certification, of which around two million are food and beverage products.
Furthermore, he highlighted the increasingly large global flow of imports of halal products from abroad. Giant foreign companies are currently continuing to try to legalize their countries’ halal certification to be recognized in Indonesia, due to the large Muslim market.
With the entry of imported halal products, domestic MSME products have a great potential of losing competitiveness and being abandoned by consumers, especially local halal products that have not received certification. This is why it is very important to accelerate WHO 2024.
“There are 41 countries who want to cooperate with BPJPH for halal products, halal certificates to be recognized to enter Indonesia in October 2024, from China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, America, Brazil, Europe and many more, “Aqil said.
Mandatory certification or halal certificates are regulated by law number 33 of 2014 relating to guarantees of halal products, as amended by law no. 11 of 2020 regarding job creation. This is also governed by government regulation number 39 of 2021 regarding the implementation of halal product guarantees.
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Reporter: Pamela Sakina
Editor: Zita Meirina
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