Non-Alcoholic Beer Rules in Indonesia
In Indonesia, Presidential Regulation No. 74 of 2013 defines an alcoholic beverage as a drink containing ethanol made by fermentation, with or without distillation. It sets no lower alcohol limit, and its lowest class, Group A, covers drinks of up to 5%. We found no legal definition of non-alcoholic beer, and how the authorities treat drinks at 0.5% or less is not verified.
Checked on 2 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice: laws change, so confirm with the regulator before you rely on a rule.
The rules in Indonesia at a glance
- At what alcohol level does a drink count as alcoholic in Indonesia?
- The 2013 Presidential Regulation defines an alcoholic beverage by fermentation and sets no lower limit. Its lowest class covers drinks of up to 5%.
- What may a label call a non-alcoholic beer in Indonesia?
- No legal term found. Halal rules list drinks with 0.5% alcohol or more as non-halal material.
- Who may sell or buy non-alcoholic beer in Indonesia?
- Alcoholic beverages may be sold only in licensed places. How drinks at 0.5% or less are treated is not verified.
The detail, with sources
Indonesia's halal law requires products sold in the country to be halal-certified, and products made from materials that are not halal must carry a "NON HALAL" statement instead. A 2026 regulation of the halal agency, BPJPH, lists drinks containing 0.5% alcohol or more among non-halal materials. Food and drink from micro and small businesses must be certified by 17 October 2026, and the deadline for food and drink from abroad is to be set by the minister by the same date.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has ruled that food and drink named after forbidden drinks, such as beer, may not be consumed, and its halal inspection body has said that products sold as "0% beer" cannot be certified halal. The halal section below quotes these rulings.
- Primary source: Presidential Regulation No. 74 of 2013 on the Control and Supervision of Alcoholic Beverages, Articles 1, 3 and 7
- Primary source: Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Assurance, Articles 4 and 26
- Primary source: Government Regulation No. 42 of 2024 on Halal Product Assurance, Article 160
- Primary source: BPJPH Regulation No. 3 of 2026 on non-halal statements, Article 15
Common questions
Is non-alcoholic beer halal?
Official bodies have answered differently. Indonesia's MUI treats a fermented drink under 0.5% alcohol as halal if it is medically harmless, but it does not allow products named after beer, and Malaysia's JAKIM will not certify products named beer, ale, lager or stout. SOMA is under 0.5% ABV, which is a trace and not zero, and it is not halal-certified, so the judgement belongs to the reader and their scholar.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia
Singapore, Thailand since November 2025 and Malaysia since April 2026 treat a drink as alcoholic above 0.5% alcohol by volume, and Indonesia's halal rules use the same 0.5% line. Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei set no line for non-alcoholic beer in the laws we read. In Malaysia and Indonesia, food law and halal standards also limit what these drinks may be called, including whether the word beer may appear on the label.
| Country or territory | A drink counts as alcoholic from |
|---|---|
| Malaysia | More than 0.5% ABV is an alcoholic beverage, since 1 April 2026. Before that, the line was more than 2%. |
| Singapore | More than 0.5% ethanol by mass or volume is liquor. |
| Thailand | Above 0.5 degree. Since 8 November 2025, drinks at 0.5 degree or less are outside the alcohol control law. |
| Vietnam | No 0.5% line. The alcohol harm law defines beer as a malt drink containing food-grade alcohol, with no minimum. |
| Philippines | We found no legal line for alcohol content. The excise tax on beer and other fermented liquors has no threshold. |
| Brunei | The law does not define liquor by alcohol content. The Syariah Penal Code uses "liquor or intoxicating drink" without defining it. |
Across the whole region
- All 27 countries and territories in one table
- What halal authorities have published
- What regulators say about drink-driving laws and non-alcoholic beer
- The same rows as JSON or CSV, free to reuse with credit
If a rule for Indonesia has changed, or a source no longer says what we say it does, write to getsoma.store@gmail.com and we will correct it.
Who publishes this page
SOMA is a non-alcoholic craft beer brand founded in Bangalore, India, and its beers are under 0.5% ABV. Our first deliveries will be in Bangalore, and we do not ship outside India. We keep these pages because the rules on non-alcoholic beer differ a great deal between countries, and many pages online state them without a source.
To learn how non-alcoholic beer is made and what is in it, read Non-Alcoholic Beer 101.