Petition revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Guarantee (JPH) juncto Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation, Monday (7/18/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.
Monday, July 18, 2022 | 16:09 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—The petition revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Guarantee (JPH) in conjunction with Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, July 18, 2022. The justice panel led by Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams requested that the Petitioners’ legal counsel Anwar Rachman convey the revisions.
Anwar stressed that there were no changes to the Petitioners and the subject matter of the petition. However, there was a change to the petitum. The Petitioners requested that the Court declare the articles challenged be declared unconstitutional and not legally binding.
“There was no change to the Petitioners. The subject matter also remained the same as [that in] the power of attorney: Article 5 paragraph (3), Article 6, Article 29 paragraph (1), Article 33, Article 42 paragraph (1), and Article 48 of the Halal Product Guarantee,” he said.
Also read: Constitutionality of Halal Certification Challenged
The case No. 67/PUU-XX/2022 on the judicial review of Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Guarantee (JPH) in conjunction with Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation was filed by Ainur Rofiq, Achmad Mutohar, and Muhamad Yusuf (Petitioner I); Mohamad Dahlan Moga, Oheo Kaimuddin Haris, and Safril Sofwan Sanib (Petitioner II); Khoirul Umam and Laily Irmayanti (Petitioner III); as well as 20 others. They challenge Article 5 paragraph (3) and Article 6 of the JPH Law.
Article 5 paragraph (3) reads, “To implement the organizing of JPH as intended in paragraph (2), the BPJPH is formed, which is positioned under and responsible to the Minister.” In this case, the Minister is the Minister of Religion.
Article 6 reads, “In organizing JPH, the BPJPH is authorized to: a. formulate and stipulate JPH policies; b. stipulate the norms, standard, procedure, and criteria of JPH; c. issue and revoke Halal Certificate and Halal Label on any Product; d. perform registration of Halal Certificate on any foreign Product; e. perform dissemination, education, and publication of Halal Products; f. perform accreditation of LPH; g. certificate Halal Auditors; h. control JPH; i. train Halal Auditors; and j. collaborate with domestic and foreign institutions in organizing JPH.”
At the virtual preliminary hearing on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, legal counsel Anwar Rachman argued on behalf of the Petitioners that the enactment of the JPH Law in conjunction with the Job Creation Law could potentially lead to doubts over the halalness of products circulating in the community, because halal certificates are issued by institutions that are not legally authorized to issue them and have never checked and tested the products in question, without a halal fatwa from an institution that has the competence to declare products halal in a syar’i manner—the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).
“Consequently, the decline of public trust in halal certificates could make people disregard the halalness of products. In addition, floods of imported products can kill micro and small businesses,” Anwar explained.
The Petitioners argued that the enactment of both the JPH Law and the Job Creation Law could potentially lead to political intervention because the Halal Certification Agency (BPJPH) was not professional nor independent as it was under the Ministry of Religion, whose minister holds a political position. As a consequence, Indonesian products could face rejections overseas. In addition, it could cause disturbance within the community. It could also threaten micro, small, and medium businesses due to floods of products by bigger producers and of imported products.
The Petitioners argued that the JPH Law in conjunction with the Job Creation Law have more mudharat [(harm)] than good. Therefore, they requested that the Court revoke and invalidate Article 5 paragraph (3) and Article 6 of the JPH Law, Article 29 paragraph (1) of the JPH Law juncto Article 29 paragraph (1) of the Job Creation Law, Article 35 of the JPH Law, Article 42 paragraph (1) of the JPH Law juncto Article 42 paragraph (1) of the Job Creation Law, and Article 48 of the JPH Law juncto Article 48 of the Job Creation Law.
Writer : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor : Nur R.
PR : Muhammad Halim
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 7/21/2022 08:42 WIB
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.
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