The Business Competition Supervisory Agency (Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha / KPPU) recently handed down its decision in a case that involved the procurement of nutritional equipment by the A. Wahab Sjahranie Samarinda Regional Public Hospital (RSUD Samarinda). The alleged conspiracy relates to a tender undertaken in 2006 and the preliminary examination was based on a report to the KPPU that stated that there had been a breach of Article 22 of Law No. 5 of 1999 on the Prohibition on Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition (Anti-Monopoly Law).

The Constitutional Court has handed-down its decision on an application for judicial review of the Law on Medical Practice (Undang-undang Praktek Kedokteran / Law No. 29 of 2004). The application for judicial review was in essence to test the constitutional validity of criminalizing medical practice by doctors and dentists and it would appear that the Court was unable to reach consensus on this issue. The decision includes 3 dissenting opinions.

The recent Regulation, No. 284/MENKES/PER/III/2007, issued by the Minister of Health will in effect provide an opportunity to current retailers of medicines and drugs to upgrade their status to that of a Community Pharmacy. This will have a number of impacts but primarily the Regulation will provide retailers with legitimacy in their businesses and simultaneously provide a regulatory framework for a previously, to all intents and purposes, an unregulated part of the pharmaceutical industry.

The Minister of Health (MoH) has issued Regulation No. 512/MENKES/PER/IV/2007 to facilitate the implementation of Article 38(3) and Article 43 of Law No. 29 of 2004 on Medical Practice. This Regulation also repeals an earlier Regulation No. 1419/Menkes/Per/X/ 2005. The Regulation covers both doctors and dentists.

The Minister of Industry with a view to implementing National policy on the development of the food and beverage industry has issued Regulation No. 25/M-IND/3/2007. The Regulation establishes an Information Center to address remaining obstructions to the continued expansion of the industry. One of these obstructions is persistent misleading information that threatens the overall development of the food and beverage industry.

Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) has taken the initiative to propose a Draft Bill on Controlling the Impacts of Cigarettes for Health Reasons (Draft Bill) which is expressly a harm reduction bill in that it seeks to protect people, particularly children, from the harmful effects of tobacco use.

The Government appears committed to lowering the price of generic drugs to ensure equitable access for all Indonesians to essential medicines. The lower prices are based on a Minister of Health Regulation that was issued on 15 May 2006 and was amended on 17 July 2006. The Regulations affect 85 generic drugs and see the prices for them fall between 5% and 30%.

The Minister of Health (MoH) in an attempt to facilitate compliance with Ministerial Decision No. 068/Menkes/SK/II/2006 has amended the provisions to allow pharmaceutical companies until 31 December 2006 to ensure that medicine and drug labels are in compliance with the Decision. The Decision does not amend the requirement that the generic name of all branded medicines and drugs must appear on the label at a size of 80% of the branded name (see ILB 28/2/2006).

The House of Representatives (DPR) in their plenary session of 28 February 2006 has agreed to pass the Ratification Bill which will regulate all matters related to genetic plant resources used in food and agriculture. The ratification of this international treaty has been characterized as a double-edged sword for Indonesia in that the treaty will require Indonesia to make available any expertise and knowledge that it has in relation to the subject matter of the treaty. However, it should not be forgotten that Indonesia will have the same access to other signatories' data at the same time.