ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF HALAL CERTIFICATION POLICY ON SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN EAST JAVA

Halal certification is one of the proofs of the safety of consumption for Muslim and non-Muslim communities, especially in Indonesia, where most people adhere to Islamic teachings. The existence of halal product certification makes justice, legal certainty, protection, transparency, and professionalism in issuing a product. Therefore, the government must continue to strive to support industrial products to have halal certification. However, there are many SMEs whose products are not halal-certified. This study aims to determine the performance of the policy output of halal certification policies in East Java with output indicators consisting of coverage, bias, access, program strategies, and the suitability of target needs. This study uses a mixed method, with the primary data source from a questionnaire supported by interviews and observations located in East Java Province with 400 samples from a total of 820.005 population of business units. The results showed that from the coverage aspect, 42.3% of respondents still did not agree to follow the halal certification policy. From the aspect of bias, 46% percent of respondents think that the halal certification policy does not answer the needs of SMEs. Regarding access, 36.8% of respondents stated they could not access the halal certification policy.