Indonesia – Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture No. 139 / Permentan / PD.4, 10 December 2014, concerning importation of Carcass, Meat and / or Processed Meat Products into the Territory of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture No. 02 / Permentan / PD.4, 10 January 2015, concerning the Amendment of the Regulation of the Minister for Agriculture No. 139 / Permentan / PD.4, 10 December 2014

statement by Indonesia to THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
9-10 MARCH 2016

The following communication, dated 21 March 2016, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Indonesia.

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1.  Indonesia would like to thank Canada, Australia, the EU and Brazil for raising their comments on the regulation of importation of Carcass, Meat and / or Processed Meat Products into the Territory of the Republic of Indonesia. We would like to convey Indonesia's responses as follows:

a.    Regulation Minister of Agriculture 139/2014 and its amendment have been revised through Regulation Minister of Agriculture 58/2015. The Regulation has been notified to the WTO under G/TBT/N/IDN/98/Add.1.

b.    Regarding the EU and US concern on the halal provision, the objective of the measure is to assure security, safety and certainty of the available halal products for public consumption and utilization. Indonesia is the largest muslim country in the world and a large number of its population devoutly adhere to halal discipline. For this population, adherence to halal requirement is a serious moral issue. The halal provision is aimed at providing a guarantee for the muslim population on the halal aspect of products and within this context should be seen as providing protection from moral hazard. As we may recall, the GATT 1994 Article XX stated that "a Member is granted broad discretion to determine its own public morals and to implement measures necessary for the protection of those public morals".

c.    Concerning local absorption, the provisions stipulated in the regulations are aimed at ensuring fair market mechanism and preventing unnecessary disruption in meat supply which may cause anomalous price increase.

d.    Regarding Australia's concern on the issue of secondary cuts, the current regulation states that importation of secondary cut is allowed and the Indonesian market is open for imported products. However such importation should be conducted by state owned enterprises designated by the government to ensure that importers do not distort the market by holding imported products for a long period and cause the price to increase unfairly.

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