Written by the AsiaCommerce Market Entry Team — B2B cross-border procurement and distribution specialists operating under PT Exim Jaya Abadi and PT Kalimas Mitra Perkasa since 2016. Last updated: August 2026.

ASIACOMMERCE - Indonesia has set October 18, 2026, as a firm deadline for mandatory Halal certification.

After that date, food, beverage, cosmetic, and traditional medicine products without certification face escalating penalties.

At the same time, BPOM registration now requires closer integration with Halal status for many product categories.

Foreign F&B brands entering Indonesia now face two compliance tracks that increasingly move together rather than separately.

Our team has guided F&B brands through both processes as this regulatory landscape has tightened.

What the October 2026 Halal Deadline Actually Means

Under current regulation, this second phase deadline requires nearly all products circulating in Indonesia to carry Halal certification, with no further extensions planned.

This covers food and beverage products broadly, including small-scale food businesses, alongside cosmetics, supplements, and chemical products.

Once issued, a Halal certificate remains valid indefinitely, provided no changes occur to ingredients or production processes.

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Products without certification after the deadline face graduated sanctions, starting with written warnings and escalating to market withdrawal.

Brands still without certification close to this deadline are working against a genuinely limited window, not a flexible timeline.

How the Halal Certification Process Actually Works

Registration runs entirely online through Indonesia's centralized SIHALAL system, requiring a business identification number from the OSS platform.

Applicants upload product data, ingredient lists, material composition matrices, and production process flows.

A self-declaration scheme exists free of charge for small businesses with low-risk, clearly Halal ingredients, while a regular scheme applies to larger businesses or more complex formulations.

Applications route to an accredited Halal inspection body for document verification and field audit before proceeding to a religious authority's fatwa session for final determination.

The regular process typically takes around 21 working days from initial document verification through certificate issuance.

What Changed on the BPOM Side

BPOM registration for products like cosmetics and processed food now requires quality compliance alongside integrated Halal status ahead of the October deadline.

(ALSO READ: Why Fashion Brands Are Sourcing From China and Selling Through Malaysia’s Marketplaces)

Updated cosmetics regulation this year tightened standardization requirements around good manufacturing practice compliance.

BPOM has expanded incentive programs, including fee reductions or waivers, for qualifying small business registrations to support their competitiveness.

Digital systems have matured significantly, with electronic signatures now standard on export certificates and market authorization documents.

The cosmetics notification system now applies artificial intelligence to verify document completeness, allowing automatic approval when submissions are fully compliant, though post-market discrepancies can trigger automatic revocation.

Low-risk cosmetics can now clear registration in a matter of days under this automated system, while higher-risk products still require manual review taking up to a few months.

Processed food and higher-risk products continue to require deeper safety and nutritional review, typically taking thirty to ninety working days once documentation is complete.

How AsiaCommerce Manages This for F&B Brands

Coordinating Halal and BPOM certification as parallel, integrated tracks is now essential, not optional, for F&B brands entering Indonesia.

AsiaCommerce manages both certification tracks directly for client brands, aligning ingredient documentation, facility standards, and submission timing across SIHALAL and e-BPOM systems.

As a cross-border operator working in Indonesian F&B compliance and market entry since 2016, our team builds certification into the launch plan from the sourcing stage, not after production is complete.

That includes helping brands assess which registration scheme fits their business size and product risk category correctly the first time.

With the October 2026 deadline approaching, brands still navigating this process benefit from starting both tracks now rather than treating them as sequential steps.

📲 Consult your Halal and BPOM certification strategy now via WhatsApp: +62 877-7704-7097 (*)

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