Home > News and Opportunities

News and Opportunities

---

ISPO May be Stalled Absence of Certifying Agency Leads to Expensive Cost of Certification

The application of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) per January 2011 may be stalled on lack of certainty over supporting regulations.

The ISPO a guide to sustainable oil palm plantation initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture hints three things to be mandatory applied earlier next year, namely the creation of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil Commission (KMSBI), settlement of the implementation of the monitoring system, and assessment of 7.3 hectare-plantation areas.

Secretary General of the Indonesia Oil Palm Businesses Association (Gapki) Joko Supriyono revealed a new team to implement the three things would be established.

"The three things are scheduled to be implemented by the end of the year since the ISPO has to come into effect in January 2011. It will depend on the speed of the Ministry of Agriculture," he told Bisnis last week.

The KMSBI Secretariat will involve representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the National Land Agency (BPN), the National Standardization Agency (BSN), association representatives, and NGOs.

Head of Forest Campaign at Greenpeace South East Asia Bustar Maitar informed without serious efforts, the ISPO would only stop at being a mere image-creating instrument.

"From the very beginning, it has been unclear what the government is going to do with the ISPO. Is it a mere image-creating instrument to go against oil palm campaign or a serious effort to develop plantation without deforestation? The most important thing is law enforcement."

According to him, the government should enforce law strictly to plantation companies violating regulations.
Concerning the issuance of the ISPO certificate, Joko said it was being deliberated along with the agenda of naming a certifying agency.

"The topic of intense debate is should the certifying agency an international one or a state-owned one?"
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bayu Krisnamurthi admitted there were only few domestic institutes having the capability of issuing certificates. "As a result, the cost of certification is expensive."

Based on the ISPO draft, the ISPO certificate can only be requested by first, second, and third-class plantations that have been rated green and blue in accordance with the assessment system of the Ministry of Environment.

Chairperson of the Indonesia Palm Oil Commission (KMSI) Rosediana Suharto disclosed the assessment process would also be made by a team consisting of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Environment, and the BPN.
"We have not yet known the exact figure since the process has not yet started," Rosediana said last weekend.
 

Currently, there are 7.3 million hectares of oil palm areas in Indonesia, 3.5 million hectares of which are operated by private parties, 3.2 million hectares are micro plantations, and 617,000 hectares are owned by state-owned plantations.

Assessment aspects
The ISPO draft reads plant assessment is made by trained and certified assessors. The aspects assessed covers legality, management, plantation, plantation produce processing, social and economic and environmental conditions of plantation, and reporting.

First, second, and third-class oil palm companies can ask for audit, so that they can have their ISPO issued soon.

Rosediana confirmed the assessment would be made gradually due to the high number of oil palm companies in Indonesia. Once the assessments were complete, he continued, they would determine the classes of the plantations.

The assessments will start from big companies, such as PT PP London Sumatra Tbk, the Musim Mas Group, the Hindoli Group, the Asian Agri Group, the Sinar Mas Group, PT Astra Agro Tbk, and PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantation Tbk.

Unfortunately, Rosediana didn't mention the deadline of the KMSBI creation and of the completion of the assessment system.
In the meantime, the completion of the ISPO draft was stalled twice since earlier this year before it was finally released in June.
With the ISPO, Rosediana added, if one country imposed ban their importers from buying Indonesian oil palm products, Indonesia could impose the counter-ban.

Rosediana took example if Indonesian oil palm products were banned from entering the European market, the government could ban European products from entering Indonesia.

In the meantime, Vice President of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Derom Bangun recently stated the national regulation should get international recognition. (Bisnis/dle/arh)

http://www.bisnis.com/pls/bisnis/bisnis.cetak?inw_id=741856
 

[Last update: 2010-07-05 10:50:08]