Indonesia: The Adventure of Halal Drugs

The government must be careful in implementing the 2014 Law No. 33 on Halal Product Assurance. Problems existed from the start of the law's formulation. Besides the dispute over Halal certification fees charged by certification bodies, another fierce dispute is over the Halal certification of drugs. Because of the existence of pros and cons, the House of Representatives' bill was passed only at the end of last year. According to a Tempo report on Tuesday, November 17, the government is formulating regulations on Halal certification for the pharmaceutical industry.

Since April this year, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Health, the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association (GPFI) and the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group have held joint meetings annually. Although the Halal certification regulations are to be formulated in 2019, the government plans to issue a technical regulation by the end of this year. The formulation of this technical specification requires careful consideration. If all drugs circulating in the country must obtain Halal certificates, then drug costs will naturally rise, and as a result drug prices will naturally increase. Therefore, the government must establish a correct mechanism so that the price range does not burden patients and ordinary people.

Only 0.3% of companies and 0.09% of products have applied to the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). In addition, the implementation of this Halal certification system may disrupt Indonesia's drug distribution. This is because almost all of Indonesia's drug raw materials are imported. Of the more than 930 drug ingredients, only 1% are produced domestically in Indonesia. Foreign drug companies' products do not have Halal certificates. If the circulation of such drugs is prohibited, the healing process of many patients will be significantly threatened. The responsibility for classifying the Halal and non-Halal status of the drug production process is another problem that must be anticipated. Halal product regulations require pharmaceutical traders to separate Halal and non-Halal products from slaughter, processing, storage, packaging and distribution. The religious logic of completely separating Halal and non-Halal products is hard to achieve for the high-tech pharmaceutical production industry. Without an effective verification process that can be widely accepted, Halal certification will actually bring more harm than good. Therefore, all of this now depends on the government. Issues and concerns about drug Halal certification should be responded to in a public-interest-oriented way. Otherwise, we cannot blame patients if they unite to petition the Constitutional Court to remove a regulation that causes them economic loss.