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Abstract

Comparative research on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Indonesia and the European Union has concentrated on institutional design, risk assessment, and labelling, leaving largely unexamined how such regulation intersects with the living law of the customary and indigenous communities who are frequently the de facto custodians of the plant genetic resources on which biotechnology draws. This study addresses that gap by advancing a single central proposition: Indonesia's legal framework for genetic utilization cannot satisfy the classical juridical ideals of justice, legal certainty, and utility unless it is grounded in the living law (Ehrlich) and adat-law tradition (Van Vollenhoven, Ter Haar, Soepomo) that has long governed local genetic resources, and is aligned with the access and benefit-sharing (ABS) architecture of the Nagoya Protocol. Employing normative legal research with conceptual, comparative, and living-law approaches, the study compares the European Union's precautionary, risk-based biosafety regime under Directive 2001/18/EC with Indonesia's fragmented, product-based regulatory framework, and evaluates the doctrinal basis for recognizing customary and indigenous rights over genetic resources, namely the constitutional basis (Article 18B(2) of the 1945 Constitution), the jurisprudential basis (Constitutional Court Decision No. 35/PUU-X/2012), and the statutory basis (Article 77 of Law No. 11 of 2019). The analysis finds that Indonesian positive law recognizes such rights only implicitly and fragmentarily, and argues that consolidating this recognition, through enactment of the pending Draft Law on Adat Communities and domestic implementation of the Nagoya Protocol's prior-informed-consent and benefit-sharing mechanisms, is a necessary, rather than merely supplementary, condition for a just, certain, and beneficial GMO regulatory regime. The study recommends harmonized, transparent legislation supported by comprehensive risk assessment, mandatory labelling, and traceability, so as to reconcile scientific progress with the living law and socio-cultural realities of Indonesia's pluralistic society.

Keywords

GMO Regulation Genetic Resources Customary Law Indigenous Peoples Biosafety

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Pajrin, R., Rangkuti, M. Y., & Daud, M. Z. (2026). LIVING LAW AND GMO REGULATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDONESIA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION. Constitutional Law Society, 5(2), 259–281. https://doi.org/10.36448/jcls.v5i2.173
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