Tuesday 25 August 2015

ALL APPAREL WILL SOON BE SUBJECTED TO MANDATORY SNI



In order to protect Indonesian products from illegal trade and the circulation of non-standard garment for products, the government is intensively imposing mandatory standard for products that enter and circulate in Indonesia. One of them is sewn products produced in Indonesia in the form of apparel or garment. According to Director of textile and Miscellaneous Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Ramon Bangun, after opening the Exhibition of SNI-Standardized Baby Clothes and Children’s Toys at Plaza Industry, in Jakarta, on Tuesday (June 9), the government is currently preparing the enactment of mandatory SNI for all apparel (garment) products in Indonesia.

Ramon, who accompanied the Director General of Chemical, Textiles, and Miscellaneous Industries at the Ministry of Industry, Harjanto, stated that at this time SNI formulation has been completed. The government notifies the rule to the World Trade Organization (WTO), because the rule is classified as standards. “Actually we apply this rule in order to protect the domestic textile industry, which is small and medium scale industry. They complained that their products cannot compete with Chinese products that enter legally and illegally.

Moreover, with the economic slowdown experienced by developed countries such as Europe and the US, its ultimately led to China being no longer able to export its products, so they need new markets, including Indonesia. Not to mention that they are also not able to market their products in their own country due to excess of production. Therefore, if WTO has notified these rules, we expect SNI for apparel product will be immediately enacted this year. But, this rule is limited to the enforcement of mandatory SNI for garment products, and does not apply to cloth products as raw material of apparel industry, “said Ramon.

In the same occasion, Harjanto added that the government prioritizes the use of domestic products, including for the benefit of the garment industry. During this time the garment industry is using more imported raw materials. Therefore, we expect that this rule will be able to mobilize domestic needs for fabric.

The Ministry of Industry has also imposed Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for baby clothing products through Regulation of the Minister of Industry No.07/M-IND/PER/2/2014 and children’s toys through Regulation of the Minister of Industry No.55/M-IND/PER/11/2013. This was done in order to improve quality of baby clothes and children’s toys circulating in Indonesia as well as to protect the security, health and safety of Indonesian children. The exhibition is expected to display baby clothes and children’s toys that have obtained SNI certificate so they can be known by the community at large and raise the awareness to use SNI-certified products, because these efforts can advance the baby clothing and children’s toy industries nationwide.

According to Harjanto, the application of mandatory SNI for baby clothes set several parameters that must be met for baby clothing products, such as content of Azo Dyes, formaldehyde, and extracted metal contents, while mandatory SNI for children’s toy products set some parameters that should be met for toy products that include SNI ISO 8124 2011 (1-4) and/or some of the parameter of EN 71-% for phthalates, ISO 7617:2010 for Non Azo parameters, and SNI 7617:2010 for formaldehyde parameter.

“Standardization has become an integral part in international trade activities. Readiness in the field of standardization will facilitate trade and improve the development of local products to domestic and global markets,” he said. Standardization also serves as a reference in the strengthening of industry structure in accordance with market demand and consumer protection, especially from the invasion of imported products which are of low quality and endanger the health, safety, security and environmental preservation. Mandatory SNI for baby clothes and children’s toys become of key importance in order to improve consumer protection and encourage increase of national product quality in order to compete in domestic and global markets. (E)

Business New - June 12, 2015

No comments: