Jakarta. The Halal Product Assurance Body (BPJPH) said Wednesday that Indonesia should cut the lifespan of foreign halal certificates from having no expiry date to just a year to prevent businesses from exploiting the current regulatory loopholes.

Indonesia’s mandatory halal certification will enter into force on Oct. 18, 2026. The policy aims to reassure Indonesian Muslims that the production process of goods — including food and beverages — sold in the market meets Islamic law. Ahead of its entry into force, BPJPH has already struck mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with 106 foreign halal certifiers, many of whom are in Asia. Under the deal, Indonesia acknowledges foreign-issued halal certificates and vice versa, thereby streamlining export-import activities. However, the fact that these documents are now valid for life in Indonesia has rattled BPJPH.   

According to BPJPH deputy Chuzaemi Abidin, halal certificates used to be only valid for 4 years, until the 2023 Job Creation Law removed this expiry date. In the 2023 document, the certificate will remain valid as long as there are no changes to the product’s composition. However, BPJPH cannot rest easy. The agency fears foreign businesses will not lose their access to Indonesia  — the world’s largest Muslim-majority country — even if there is a slip in the halal compliance, especially with an MRA already in place. 

“If it’s valid for a lifetime, how can we assure its compliance? We don’t have enough resources if we have to keep an eye on [the foreign bodies] to see if they stay compliant. That’s why there needs to be an expiry date. … Our chief Haikal [Hassan Baras] wants the certificate to only be valid for a year, so there won’t be any businesses that will try to deceive [us],” Chuzaemi said on the margins of Investor Daily Ekonomi Syariah 2026 conference.

Chuzaemi claimed foreign halal certifiers — especially those that had inked the MRAs — would not mind if they had to update their certificates each year.

“They [the foreign bodies] are actually on board [with this plan] because their certificates do have expiration dates. Some of them even require certificates per shipment. Their certificates are also usually valid for 2 years,” Chuzaemi said.

The Jakarta Globe asked Chuzaemi whether the countless agreements could translate into an influx of imported halal goods. Chuzaemi highlighted the need to halal-certify Indonesia’s small enterprises lest they fail to compete with the imports. 

“Because we cannot simply block [imports] or we will get sued at the World Trade Organization [WTO]. … Beyond halal certificates, we need to help our small enterprises in improving their packaging and making them more export-ready,” Chuzaemi stated to the Globe.

Anggito Abimanyu, who chairs the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS), pushed for more halal certification MRAs earlier that day, although he did not comment from a lifespan standpoint.

“Perhaps we can do a regionwide [pact] with ASEAN. … Indonesia is too exclusive. … Because wouldn’t it be burdensome [without such agreement] since Indonesia is not only a consumer but a producer? Let’s say Vietnam sells us some goods, but we don’t accept it as halal even though the product is already acknowledged by the local certifier [in Hanoi],”  Anggito told Investor Daily Roundtable.

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