The Ministry of Trade is taking the initiative to build an INRAPEX (Indonesia Rapid Alert System for non-food products) website with technical assistance from ARISE+ Indonesia. It aims at enabling market surveillance agencies to share information about unsafe non-food products on the domestic market to make it easier for inspectorates to identify these products and thereby strengthen the national market surveillance efforts.
As the first step of preparation, the Directorate of Standardization and Quality Control under the Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Trade Compliance, Ministry of Trade, with support from ARISE+ Indonesia, organised a two-day virtual workshop to discuss the EU Rapex Scheme, Wednesday-Thursday (22-23/09).
"I hope that our discussion today on the EU Rapex Scheme will provide us with references and serve us as a model for developing our INRAPEX," the Director of Standardization and Quality Control, Mrs Dyah Palupi, said during her opening remarks.
Indonesia currently has INRASFF (Indonesia Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed), an integrated market surveillance system for food products, but not yet for non-food products. The development of a nation-wide system to share information about unsafe products, INRAPEX, reaffirms the commitment of the Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Trade Compliance to realising consumer protection through effective market surveillance.
Speaking at the workshop, Torben Rahbek, ARISE+ Indonesia's expert in product safety and market surveillance, presented the EU market surveillance system, risk assessment and notification to the EU Safety Gate System on the first day of the workshop.
On the second day, Mr Rahbek discussed the organisation and stakeholders involved in the EU Safety Gate System, data quality assurance, and the interaction between the EU member states in following up the EU Safety Gate System notification.
The development of the INRAPEX System is part of the Government's efforts to support the implementation of the National Quality Assurance System and improve Export Quality Infrastructure to harmonise Indonesian technical procedures with international best practices and, thereby, improve Indonesia's competitiveness.
Around 70 representatives from the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Civil Servant Investigators (PPNS) for Industry and Trade, and Officers of Goods and Services Distribution Surveillance (PPBJ) from the Provincial Trade and Industry Offices across Indonesia participated in the workshop.
One of the participants, Michael IJ, the Coordinator of Consumer Protection and Law Enforcement, commented that the integrated system and human resources efficiency in managing the EU Safety Gate could serve as a model for the INRAPEX development.
Johana Windy Gradiforiana, a Trade - Civil Servant Investigator in the Provincial Industry Office of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), said that the workshop had provided her with insights and knowledge that could improve her work.
The discussion on developing the customized Indonesia RAPEX (INRAPEX) Scheme is scheduled for next month.
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For further information on national quality assurance, standardisation, and consumer empowerment please visit the Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Trade Compliance at http://ditjenpktn.kemendag.go.id/
