Technical Assistance I
The Fish Quarantine and Inspection Agency (BKIPM in Indonesian acronyms) under the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MoMAF) stepped up its efforts to provide food safety guarantees to domestic and international markets, including to the European Union (EU).
With Indonesia eyeing an export value of fishery products to increase to USD 7.66 billion in 2023 from USD 5.7 billion in 2021, strengthening the implementation of the Fishery Products Quality and Safety Assurance System is pivotal.
BKIPM, the Competent Authority for the fisheries sector, with support from ARISE+ Indonesia, held a four-day workshop on 2-5 August 2022 to discuss the EU audit recommendations and prepare the Plan of Action to address those recommendations.
Since 2013, the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of the European Commission has undertaken periodic audit missions to evaluate the control system in place for governing the production of tuna products intended for export to the EU. The second audit was conducted in 2017, and the last was in March 2020.
Indonesia is categorized as a medium-size tuna exporting country and therefore DG SANTE carried out an in-depth review of its control systems concerning tuna fishing and processing.
Indonesia is included in Annex II to Commission Decision 2006/766/EC, which sets out the list of third countries and territories from which imports of fishery products are permitted. To date, Indonesia is authorised to export fishery products to the EU from 203 processing establishments and nine freezer vessels.
Based on the audit report in 2017, the EU provided ten recommendations, of which four are assessed by the EU as not having been entirely implemented. As a result, Indonesia is not allowed to add new Approval Numbers for Fish Processing Units (UPI) that export fisheries products to the EU, even though 33 UPIs have applied for new Approval Numbers.
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has formed a special team which coordinates, discusses and monitors the progress of the follow-up actions on the EU recommendations.
The Special Team, comprising the policymakers and implementers at the Directorate General of Capture Fisheries, the Directorate General of Aquaculture, the Inspectorate General, and BKIPM, took part in the workshop.
Delivering opening remarks, the Special Advisor to the Minister on Society and Inter-agency Relations, Mr Budi Sulistiyo, underscored the importance of intensive coordination and having a shared understanding and perception among the authorities to resolve the EU audit findings immediately.
He added, "Commitment from all parties is fundamental and needed to improve the Fishery Products Quality and Safety Assurance System from upstream to downstream, which will facilitate our fisheries exports."
The ARISE+ Indonesia Senior Expert on the EU Regulations of Fish Quality, Safety and Inspection, Helder da Silva, delivered the workshop supported by Export Quality Infrastructure Senior Expert, Arief Safari.
Helder da Silva presented a comprehensive analysis of Indonesia's Fishery Products Quality Assurance and Safety System compliance with the EU food safety regulations and identified the discrepancies and facilitated the participants to develop follow-up actions supported by evidence.
On the last day of the workshop, the participants conducted a field monitoring visit to Muara Baru Fishing Port in North Jakarta to inspect the fishing and freezer vessels and cold storage facilities managed by suppliers of the Fish Processing Units' that export to the EU.
The Coordinator of Quality Management of the System Standardisation and Compliance Center at the FQIA/BKIPM, Siti Nurul Fahmi, who participated in the workshop, praised ARISE+ Indonesia for its support that enables the team to reach a consensus to resolve the outstanding issues regarding the DG SANTE recommendations.
"The workshop has provided us with extensive insights to better understand the findings and formulate a Plan of Action together so that we can close the outstanding issues immediately," Ms Nurul said.
