T

he government plans to require mandatory compliance to Indonesian National Standards (SNI) for dozens more manufactured goods next year as part of its effort to enhance the quality of domestic products circulating in the market.

The Trade Ministry'€™s director general for standards and consumer protection, Widodo, said that the requirement would affect around 60 types of goods, both made locally and imported.

These would include food products, such as milk powder, instant noodles and biscuits, as well as detergents, plastic packaging, household ceramics and gas stoves.

'€œThe Industry Ministry is still preparing the infrastructure to support the extension of the obligatory standards,'€ Widodo told reporters.

The government might provide extended deadlines for small- and mid-sized industrial firms to comply with the arrangement as they would need to make bigger efforts to adjust, he added.

At present there are 106 products that must comply with the SNI system, of which around 30 are electronics items. SNI-compliant products are considered to be upholding consumer protection in terms of health, safety and environmental sustainability.

The figure is still far below the total number of more than 5,000 SNIs issued by the National Standardization Agency (BSN).

Inadequate infrastructure to check the quality of products is one of the major obstacles that prevents the government from making the available standards mandatory for more goods.

The Trade Ministry had identified 1,222 SNI-noncompliant products from 2011 to 2013, almost half of which were found last year, according to the latest report on the supervision of circulated goods published last month.

The government is also planning to demand the mandatory labelling in the Indonesian language of all products distributed across the country, whether sourced locally or overseas, Widodo said. So far, there are only 151 types of goods required to meet the labelling rule.

'€œThis will comply with the mandate of the new Trade Law and will ensure security of the circulating products nationwide,'€ he said.

Indonesian-language labeling is necessary, especially for imported items, so as to enable customers to understand their details, such as ingredients and instructions for use, averting potential hazards incurred by their application.

Widodo further said that in the longer term the government would revise the outdated 1999 Consumer Protection Law to strengthen its role of fulfilling consumer rights.

'€œWe will propose the amendment of the law in the National Legislation Program [Prolegnas] list next year so that it will be ready for deliberation,'€ he said.

The existing law has been considered unable to cater to the complexity of consumer protection in the country nowadays as domestic consumption, the biggest driver of economic growth, has expanded robustly.

One of the main loopholes of the law is its limited coverage on goods alone, while in fact consumers must also deal with improper services from service providers.

Another lack is in the inadequate definition of consumers, as it is restricted to end-consumers, thereby excluding intermediate consumers, such as the manufacturers of goods.