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The Indonesian trade ministry has introduced a regulation to further restrict horticultural imports.

The Jakarta Post reported that under the regulation issued on 7 May importers of horticultural products must now gain approval from the agriculture ministry before seeking an import permit from the trade ministry.

Trade ministry officials will judge importers on criteria such as access to cold storage facilities and the number of distributors they use before allowing them to apply for import permits.

Under the new regulation all imported produce must be labelled in the Indonesian language, the newspaper reported.

A risk analysis must also be carried out for categories that have not been imported previously and recommendations then issued by the Quarantine Agency for fresh produce and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency for processed products.