Government Reviews Certification for Cocoa Commodities

The government is currently reviewing the sustainable plantation policies, such as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (“ISPO”) for other plantation export commodities such as cocoa. This initiative is part of an effort to comply with regulations from other countries that prohibit the import of plantation products resulting from deforestation, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

“A certification scheme for cocoa is also being planned, called ISCOCO,” said Gunawan, Assistant Deputy for Plantation and Horticulture Product Competitiveness at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs (“Kemenko Pangan”), to Hukumonline.

According to Gunawan, cocoa carries a relatively low risk of being affected by deforestation-related regulations. However, this policy initiative could provide validation for the traceability of Indonesian cocoa products. Similar to ISPO, the inclusion of a sustainability label on cocoa products, Gunawan noted, has already been implemented by several local producers, although it remains voluntary at this stage.

Going forward, this policy review may also pave the way for the mandatory implementation of sustainable product labeling for cocoa to ensure its acceptance in export markets. “If the regulations become increasingly strict, it may eventually be proposed as mandatory,” he explained.