Religious Affairs Ministry Reopens 2023 Free Halal Certification

Photo by: PR of Ministry of Religious Affairs

Halal Product Assurance Organizing Agency (BPJPH) of Ministry of Religious Affairs has reopened a million quota of Free Halal Certification (SEHATI) program for business owners starting from Monday (01/02).

“Unlike previous year, SEHATI 2023 will be open throughout the year,” Head of the BPJPH Muhammad Aqil Irham stated as quoted from the Ministry’s official website, Tuesday (02/01).

Citing the regulations, Aqil stated that first phase of mandatory halal certification will be closed on October 17, 2024. “Afterwards, if the business owners of food and beverage, slaughter products, and slaughter services have not been halal certified, they will be subject to sanctions,” he added.

In the meantime, Head of the Halal Registration and Certification Center of the BPJPH Siti Aminah said that business actors can access ptsp.halal.go.id to register for SEHATI 2023.

“They can also register through Pusaka app,” Siti Aminah said.

For the record, Pusaka app is developed to facilitate the people to receive Ministry of Religious Affairs’ services, among others, Hajj registration, halal certification, and marriage registration. The app can be downloaded on Playstore for Android users or Appstore for iOS users.

The following are a number of requirements for business owners to be able to participate in the SEHATI 2023 first phase program according to the Decree of the Head of the BPJPH Number 150 of 2022, as follows:

1. The product is riskless or uses materials with confirmed halal status;
2. The production process is guaranteed to be halal and simple;
3. Have an NIB (Business Identification Number);
4. Have annual sales turnover of a maximum of Rp500 million as proven by a self-statement;
5. Have locations, places, and PPH (Halal Product Processing) equipment that are separate from non-Halal product processing locations, places, and equipment;
6. Possess or do not possess a distribution permit (PIRT/MD/UMOT/UKOT), SLHS (Certificate of Eligibility for Sanitary Hygiene) for food/beverage products with a shelf life of less than seven days, or other industrial permits for products manufactured from related agencies/institutions;
7. The resulting product is in the form of goods as specified in the details of the product type in the attachment to the Decree;
8. Using ingredients that have been confirmed to be halal;
9. Does not contain hazardous materials;
10. Has been verified as halal by the companion of halal product process;
11. Types of products/groups of products that is submitted for halal certified do not contain elements of slaughtered animals, unless it originates from halal certified producers or slaughterhouses/poultry slaughterhouses;
12. Operates with simple technology production equipment or manually and/or semi-automatically (for home business owners);
13. The product preservation process is simple and does not use a combination of more than one preservation method; and
14. Willing to complete the halal certification application document with an online self-declaration mechanism through SIHALAL.

(UN) (GWH/HD/LW)