Disabling Labeling: The WTO Consistency of the Indonesian Mandatory Halal Labeling Law

Limenta, Michelle; Edis, Bayan; Fernando, Oscar (May 2016). Disabling Labeling: The WTO Consistency of the Indonesian Mandatory Halal Labeling Law Bern, Switzerland: SECO, World Trade Institute

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The Halal Act is the first law in Indonesia, a Muslim majority nation, requiring Halal certification and labeling. Prior to the law, the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) oversaw voluntary Halal certification. While Islamic organizations in Indonesia have praised the emergence of this law, local and foreign business entities have expressed their anxiety over whether such requirements would mean extra costs for them. The Halal Act involves several WTO issues, which could raise questions of Indonesia’s compliance with its WTO obligations. There have been a number of WTO cases where panel and the Appellate Body evaluated the concept of ‘public morals’. The question is how to balance this moral/religious objective and the means used to achieve such objective so that they are not more trade restrictive than necessary? It is also important to note that although Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, the Indonesian constitution itself specifies that the country is not a Muslim nation and recognizes the existence of more than five religions in the country. This paper seeks to examine the WTO TBT consistency of the new Indonesian Halal Act and whether mandatory halal certification and labeling can be defended as an exception to WTO law.

Item Type:

Working Paper

Division/Institute:

02 Faculty of Law > Department of Economic Law > World Trade Institute
10 Strategic Research Centers > World Trade Institute

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 340 Law

Publisher:

SECO, World Trade Institute

Funders:

[UNSPECIFIED] Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs

Projects:

[UNSPECIFIED] SECO/WTI Academic Cooperation Project

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pablo Rahul Das

Date Deposited:

23 Mar 2017 17:05

Last Modified:

20 Feb 2020 08:51

Additional Information:

SECO/WTI Academic Cooperation Project, based at the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland.

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.97933

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/97933

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