Automotive Industry Indonesia: EU's UNECE to Become Key Reference
The Indonesian government officially announced it will use the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) standard as the reference for the nation's local Indonesian National Standard (in Indonesian: Standardisasi Nasional Indonesia, or SNI) with regard to various automotive components.
Over the weekend, Indonesian Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said Indonesia will harmonize the local standard with the UNECE for several automotive parts including rims, windshields and tires.
However, Hartarto added that the UNECE only serves as a reference for the SNI and therefore the EU standard will not be fully copy-pasted. Moreover, there are other standards - such as the Japan International Standard - that also serve as a reference in Indonesia's automotive industry.
Last year the Indonesian government already started to prepare for the adaptation of the UNECE standard. Reason being that most automotive parts that were imported from the European Union (EU) carried a too high standard. The standard of these imported parts in fact exceeded the upper limit of the local SNI standard and therefore these products failed to pass the SNI standard.
Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as a whole, are also preparing to adopt the UNECE standard. Both organizations agreed to adopt 51 UNECE regulations with regard to product safety and consumer protection.
I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment and Electronic Industries at Indonesia's Industry Ministry, said Indonesia will ratify the UNECE standard this year. However, in this case ratification actually means making the UNECE the primary reference for the local SNI standard.