Indonesia Demands the EU to Prohibit ‘Palm Oil Free’ Label

Indonesian has once again demanded the European Union (EU) to prohibit the labeling of “palm oil free` on any packaging of various food products circulating in the EU region. Indonesia has denounced the label as discriminatory to palm oil and an unfair to Indonesia since it favours one party only. Delegation of Indonesia led by Hasan Kleib, Permanent Representative/Ambassador to the United Nations, WTO and Other International Organization in Geneve filed the complaint at the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) meeting in Geneve, Swiss, 14-15 November 2018. “Indonesia once again demands the EU members and companies in the region to stop labeling ‘Palm oil Free on their own free will,” Hasan said on a press release. Currently, companies in the EU region voluntarily put ‘Palm Oil Free’ label on any packaging of various food products. It has created negative campaign to palm oil. “This is not fair, it is a discriminatory to imported goods, an action that is prohibited by WTO agreement,” kata Hasan. He said that the EU argument on the voluntarily labeling action was somewhat ambiguous and created a misleading impression. “Their argument was based on inaccurate and unaccountable data, particularly on the argument saying that palm oil has incremental risk for health,” Hasan added. ***