The government has tightened the import of cement following the application of compulsory Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for the commodity as stated in the Minister of Industry Regulation No. 35/M-IND/PER/4/2007 on Application of Compulsory Indonesian National Standard for Cement dated April 17, 2007.  
 
The compulsory Indonesian National Standard for Cement is applied to six types of cement, namely White Portland cement with HS (Harmonized System) Number 2523.21.00.00, Portland Pozolan (HS 2523.29.90.00), Portland cement (HS 2523.29.10.00), Mixed Portland (HS 2523.29.90.00), Masonry cement (HS 2523.90.00.00), and Composite Portland (HS 2523.90.00.00).  
 
White Portland has to comply with 15-0129-2004 SNI, Portland Pozolan with 15-0302-2004 SNI, Portland with 15-2049-2004 SNI, Mixed Portland with 15-3500-2004 SNI, Masonry cement with 15-3758-2004 SNI, and Composite Portland with 15-7064-2004 SNI.  
 
Minister of Industry Fahmi Idris revealed that the policy aimed to guarantee the quality of the cement industry, protect consumers from poor quality products, and create healthy business competition. 
 
With the application of compulsory SNI, all cements circulating in the domestic market, from import as well as from local cement manufacturers, have to comply with SNI requirements proven by SPPT-SNI (Decision Letter on Indonesian National Standard Label Use).  
 
Import cement that has pocketed SPPT-SNI should be registered by the importers to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to get goods registration letter (SPB).  
 
Therefore, six months after the regulation is brought into effect, national cement companies are required to comply with Indonesian National Standard for cement, to have cement SPPT-SNI, and attach cement SNI sign on every cement package. As to bulk cement, it has to attach SPPT-SNI in its shipment document. 
 
"Import cement that fails to comply with compulsory SNI is prohibited from entering Indonesian custom area and has to be re-exported or destroyed," stated Fahmi. However, the regulation doesn’t detail on sanctions to be imposed on the violations.