Indonesia - Country Commercial Guide
Standards for Trade
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Overview

Rapid growth of international trade has resulted in the development of product and service standardization in all industrial sectors in Indonesia. Some safety, quality and performance standards are voluntary but serve as valuable product differentiators while other standards are cited in technical regulations as mandatory minimum requirements for market access.

Standards

The Indonesian government and related industrial players have been active in formulating standards for products and services. The National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (Badan Standarisasi Nasional “BSN”) is an Indonesian government agency responsible for standardization, conformity assessment, and metrology activities in Indonesia. BSN was established in 1997 under Presidential Decree 13/1997 and enhanced by Presidential Decree No 166/2000. 

According to government regulation, the only national standards permitted are Indonesian National Standards (SNIs) and BSN is responsible for their formulation. SNIs are formulated in accordance with the nationally agreed mechanism of standard formulation and aligned with similar regional or international standards whenever possible. Various Indonesian government ministries cite these standards in their technical regulations.

A wide variety of product types are subject to mandatory SNI testing and certification. The generally required documents for requesting SNI approval are 1) Local Business Representative / Importer in Indonesia; 2) Trademark Certificate issued by Indonesian Authority or a proof of Trademark Registration; 3) Product Catalogue or Brochure; 4) Technical Specifications; 5) Production and Quality Assurance/Quality Control flowchart process; 6) Quality Manual and/or equivalent procedures (Indonesian translation); 7) Valid ISO 9001 certificate or equivalent; 8) Company legal notary act & business license (Indonesian translation). Following a review of a company’s application, a laboratory test will be conducted based on products randomly sampled from the factory and/or from the market.

There are several different testing schemes used in Indonesia. For example, under scheme type 1b testing must be done by a laboratory designated by the Minister of Industry, random product sampling must be done at the manufacturer’s premises in the country of origin, and testing must be done for each shipment. For scheme type 5, there is an additional requirement for a factory audit or inspection to ensure compliance of the production process, facility and quality management system. If issues are found during a factory audit, manufacturers have an opportunity to take corrective actions. Once those corrective actions have been verified, the certification process will be able to move forward.

Indonesia allows for product testing at a laboratory in the U.S. if the following criteria are all met: 1) the testing laboratory in the U.S. is accredited by an accreditation body in the U.S. that has signed a multilateral recognition agreement to which Indonesia’s national accreditation body, KAN, is also a signatory, 2) the U.S. has a bilateral or multilateral agreement with the government of Indonesia in the relevant area of technical regulation, and 3) the U.S. testing laboratory is designated by the Minister of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia.

There are instances when Indonesia does not recognize results from testing laboratories based in the U.S.  In these cases, some companies feel that Indonesia’s mandatory testing and SNI certification is burdensome and too costly to be practical.

Once the mandatory SNI testing and, if required, facility audit is complete, then BSN will make a final decision regarding whether to issue the certificate. The certificate enables the company to include the SNI certification logo on their retail product packaging.  The length of certification validity varies depending on the certification type.

Under National Telecommunication Act No. 36, the year 1999, a certificate of approval is required for ITE and telecommunications equipment to be sold or imported into the Indonesian market.  The certificate of approval is issued by the Directorate General of Resources and Equipment for Post and Information Technology (SDPPI).  In-country testing at an SDPPI laboratory of two randomly selected equipment samples is required for radio frequency and telecommunications equipment before certificate issuance by SDPPI.  SDPPI Decision No. 36, issued on January 22, 2020, includes a list of the 150 international test labs it recognizes.

The National Accreditation Committee (KAN) is the national accreditation body. The main function of KAN is to establish a system for granting accreditation in certain fields including testing and calibration laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies. Currently, KAN operates an accreditation system for testing and calibration laboratories, ISO 9000 quality system certification bodies, ISO 14000 series environmental quality system certification bodies, personnel certification bodies, product certification bodies, HACCP certification bodies, and inspection bodies.

KAN is a signatory of the multilateral recognition agreements of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) organization, the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) organization, and the International Accreditation Forum. Once an accreditation body is a signatory of these MLAs, it is normally required to recognize the certificates issued by conformity assessment bodies accredited by all other signatories of the same MLA with the appropriate scope. However, some countries impose additional requirements.

  • Publication of Technical Regulations

Indonesia’s National Standardization Agency (BSN) publishes technical regulations in the SNI Technical Regulations section of the BSN Library: BSN Technical Regulations.

Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. 

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by World Trade Organization (WTO) Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts.  Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest. 

Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life. Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point.  National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact Commercial Specialist Pepsi Maryarini at Pepsi.Maryarini@trade.gov.

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