Opportunities for Bottled Drinking Water Regulated in the Draft Bill on Drinking Water and Sanitation Management

The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (“DPR”), through its Legislation Body and Expert Body, is currently preparing a Draft Bill on Drinking Water and Sanitation Management. Bayu Dwi Anggono, Head of the DPR’s Expert Body, revealed that the new Draft Bill is currently in the process of developing an academic concept and draft text.

“Yes, we are currently still in the conceptualization phase,” he told Hukumonline.

He explained that it is possible to include regulations on Bottled Drinking Water (“AMDK”) in the Draft Bill and align them with Law No. 17 of 2019 on Water Resources, as amended by Regulation of the Government in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2022 on Job Creation (collectively referred to as “Law 17/2019”). Bayu explained that currently, AMDK water is actually mentioned in Article 49 paragraph (1) letter b of Law 17/2019, but the regulations are still very limited to the use of water resources and general licensing. This Draft Bill opens up the potential for AMDK to be regulated in a more specific and in-depth manner, covering quality standards, licensing mechanisms, and even the supervision system.

“We will add provisions on AMDK because, in fact, some of the underlying principles already exist,” he explained.