By: A.M Oktarina Counsellor at Law
Drafted by: Baniadhipati Nandiwardhana Pasaribu
Reviewed by: Noverisky Tri Putra Pasaribu, S.H., LL.M (Adv).
Halal Certification in Indonesia governed by the Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan Obat – Obatan dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia (LPPOM MUI), as one of the branches within the Majelis Ulama Indonesia. LPPOM MUI was established in 1989 by the mandate from the Government in the effort to tackle the Lard case in Indonesia. As of 2001, The Ministry of Religion stipulates the Ministry of Religion Decision No. 518 & 519 of 2001 in order to strengthen LPPOM MUI duty in Halal Certification1. The LPPOM MUI has the duty to conduct audit, stipulation of Fatwa, and issued the Halal Certificate. The existence of LPPOM MUI Halal Certificate has been highly respected in Indonesia and beyond, as the adoption of its Halal Assurance System have been adopted by 45 Organization in 26 Countries2.
However, as of 2014, the Halal Certification is regulated under the law No. 33 of 2014 concerning Halal Product Assurance, according to the Article 4 of the Law No. 33 of 2014, stated that “products that enter, circulate, and traded in the territory of Indonesia must be certified halal”3.
As of the stipulation of the Law No. 33 of 2014 concerning Halal Product Assurance, the Government under the Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2017 creates a governmental body of Halal Product Assurance Organizing Agency (BPJPH), which in accordance with Article 6 of the Law No. 33 of 2014 have the authorization to:
1) formulates and stipulate Halal Product Assurance policy,
2) stipulates the norms, standard, procedure, and criteria of Halal Product Assurance,
3) issue and revoke halal certificate and halal label on products,
4) perform registration of Halal Certificate on foreign products,
5) socializes, educate, and publicize Halal Product,
6) perform accreditation of LPH or the Halal Assurance Body,
7) certificate Halal Auditor,
8) Control of Halal Product Assurance,
9) Develop Halal Auditor; and,
10) Collaborates with domestic and foreign institutions in organizing Halal Product Assurance4.
As we can analyse, the duty of BPJPH is similar with the duty of LPPOM MUI in assurance of Halal Products. As mentioned in point (j) of BPJPH duty, the collaboration of BPJPH with domestic institution means that the LPPOM MUI has the authority to conduct a collaborative measure with BPJPH in assessing its duties. However, as stated in Law No. 33 of 2014, the BPJPH is the only governmental body which have the authority to conduct the assurance of halal products replacing the duties of LPPOM MUI, therefore, the LPPOM MUI only act as the collaborative partner of the BPJPH especially in the mechanism of Certification of Halal Product Auditor, Accreditation, and the stipulation of Fatwa5.
The procedure of the issuance of Halal Product Certificate involving 3 organization which are: BPJPH, LPPOM MUI, and LPH (Lembaga Pemeriksa Halal)6.
As stated in Chapter V of the Law No. 33 of 2014, the procedure in order to obtain the Halal Certificate are:
1) The Halal Certificate Application is submitted by Business Operators in writing to BPJPH,
2) Halal Certificate Application must include with documents of;
a)Business Operator Data;
b)Product name and type;
c)Product registration and Material use;
d)Product manufacturing process,
3) The appointment of LPH, until now, the most reputable LPH in Indonesia is the LPPOM MUI, after the selection of LPH by the Business Operator, the BPJPH will appoint the LPH within 5 days;
4) The audit of the products by the appointed LPH auditor, if necessary, the audit will be held in Laboratory of LPH. The result of the audit will be sent to the BPJPH.
5) BPJPH submit the result of the audit conducted by LPH to MUI, further, MUI determines the Halalness of the product though the Sidang Fatwa Halal. The Sidang Fatwa Halal will be held in 30 days at the latest.
6) If the product is declared halal by Sidang Fatwa Halal MUI, the BPJPH will implement the Fatwa by issuing the Halal Certificate, the issuance of Halal Certificate will take 7 days at the lastest7. The procedure mentioned earlier is in accordance with the PMA (Ministry of Religion Regulation) No. 26 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Halal Product Assurance.
For further information you may access the official link of LPPOM MUI as follow: http://www.halalmui.org/mui14/main/page/prosedur-sertifikasi-halal-mui
1 [ “Lppom MUI: Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan Obat-Obatan Dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia.” Lppom MUI | Lembaga Pengkajian Pangan Obat-Obatan Dan Kosmetika Majelis Ulama Indonesia, https://halalmui.org/mui14/main/page/sejarah-lppom-mui.]
2 [ Rasyid, Abdul. “LPPOM MUI VERSUS BPJPH.” Business Law Binus University, Dec. 2018, https://business-law.binus.ac.id/2018/12/31/lppom-mui-versus-bpjph/.]
3 [ Article 4 Law No. 33 of 2014]
4 [ Article 6 Law No. 33 of 2004]
5 [ Rasyid, Abdul. “LPPOM MUI VERSUS BPJPH.” Business Law Binus University, Dec. 2018, https://business-law.binus.ac.id/2018/12/31/lppom-mui-versus-bpjph/.]
6 [ Kemenag.go.id]
7 [ Ibid.]