Indonesia expands free halal certification scheme for MSMEs in 2025

Kupang — — The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) regional office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs reported progress in registering micro and small enterprises for Indonesia’s national free halal certification programme, although detailed local figures for 2025 are not publicly broken out in national data.

Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency (BPJPH) ran the SEHATI free halal certification scheme nationwide in 2025, offering self-declare halal certificates at zero service cost for eligible micro and small businesses. BPJPH stated that the 2025 SEHATI quota was around 1 million free certificates for micro and small enterprises across Indonesia, delivered through assisted digital registration on the SiHalal platform.

Under this mechanism, businesses create an account on BPJPH’s SiHalal system and submit a self-declaration of halal compliance, supported by halal product process facilitators (Pendamping Proses Produk Halal, or P3H). BPJPH’s June 2025 performance report recorded 337,573 halal certificates issued nationwide under the self-declare scheme between October 2024 and 30 June 2025, covering more than 710,000 products. The report confirms that micro and small enterprises receive facilitation through free certification and that the scheme is designed to lower administrative and financial barriers.

Certification and market access

National officials have presented SEHATI halal certification as a way to strengthen consumer confidence, expand market access and improve competitiveness for micro and small enterprises, particularly ahead of the October 2026 deadline for mandatory halal certification in designated sectors. According to BPJPH guidance, eligible businesses must already use ingredients confirmed as halal, operate simple production processes and maintain annual sales below a defined threshold.

These requirements mean a certificate can function as market documentation for buyers that need assurance about ingredients and preparation processes. However, BPJPH’s national reports for 2025 focus on the number of certificates and products covered rather than downstream commercial outcomes. They do not provide data on how many certificate holders have entered hotel procurement, supermarket distribution or institutional supply chains, nor on turnover changes after certification.

For micro and small enterprises seeking tourism-related markets in NTT, the distinction is significant. A halal certificate can support a buyer’s compliance or consumer-assurance requirements, but it is not, on its own, evidence that a hotel, retailer or public institution has agreed to purchase a product. Available national documentation does not list specific contracts with hospitality or retail chains in NTT.

Outreach and facilitation

BPJPH’s technical guidelines for SEHATI state that government facilitation includes covering the service fee for halal certification and deploying P3H facilitators to help businesses prepare and submit applications through SiHalal. Officials have highlighted outreach and partnerships with local governments and institutions as part of efforts to raise participation among micro and small enterprises in the run-up to the 2026 mandatory halal deadline.

Across Indonesia, BPJPH reported rising issuance of halal certificates in 2025, with a strong contribution from micro enterprises benefiting from the free self-declare route. At the same time, analysts and civil society organisations have noted that urban businesses tend to make more use of the SEHATI quota than those in more remote areas, and that many enterprises still face challenges navigating regulations and digital systems.

Businesses in NTT and elsewhere may also seek certification through regular, paid routes overseen by halal inspection agencies, which involve more extensive audits and documentation than the self-declare mechanism. National guidance frames the free self-declare programme as an entry point for low-risk micro and small enterprises, while regular inspection routes remain available for other product types and larger businesses.

On the basis of current national reporting, halal certification in 2025 is best understood as a process of formalisation and regulatory compliance for micro and small enterprises. To assess its economic impact in NTT’s tourism and food markets, more detailed local data would be needed on certificate holders’ locations, product categories and any confirmed buyer relationships after certification.

Sources

• Keputusan Kepala BPJPH tentang Petunjuk Teknis Fasilitasi Sertifikasi Halal Gratis bagi Pelaku Usaha Mikro dan Kecil Tahun 2025 (PDF)
• Tirto.id analysis “Jelang Tenggat Wajib Halal: UMKM Terjepit Regulasi & Ekosistem”
• Suara.com report “Didominasi Usaha Mikro, Penerbitan Sertifikat Halal Meroket di 2025 Berkat Program Gratis”