BNPB, the New Watchdog for Medical Device Import

The government finally revised the regulation on the imports of Covid-19-related goods through the assignment of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on the epidemic. From now on, the agency will be issuing the recommendation letter for medical device, drug, and medicine imports. It also will simplify several regulations previously handled by the Health Ministry, Trade Ministry, and the Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

Juri Ardiantoro, the office’s undersecretary for political information and communication, revealed that the Presidential Decree No. 9/2020 on the Covid-19 Mitigation Task Force would regulate BNPB’s power. The government hoped that the agency’s involvement in the import department could accelerate the procurement process of goods used in the mitigation. Now, the medical device, drug, and medicine drug importers can apply for the import permit to [email protected] and [email protected].