Legal Metrology Services in Indonesia in the Post-Decentralisation Era: A Critical Analysis of Regional Readiness for the Implementation of Free Services

Legal metrology services constitute a strategic technical public service that plays a crucial role in ensuring fairness in commercial transactions, consumer protection, and public trust in market mechanisms. Within the decentralisation agenda, authority for the administration of Legal Metrology in Indonesia has been explicitly delegated to regency and municipal governments, with the exercise of this authority operationalised through the establishment of Legal Metrology Units (Unit Metrologi Legal/UML or UPTD), which have been effectively implemented since 2018. A significant policy shift occurred with the enactment of Law Number 1 of 2022 on Financial Relations between the Central Government and Regional Governments (HKPD), which came into effect in January 2024 and abolished verification and re-verification service charges as objects of regional levies. As a consequence, local governments are required to provide legal metrology services free of charge and to finance them through the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD). This article aims to critically analyse the readiness of local governments to deliver legal metrology services in the post-decentralisation context and following the abolition of service charges, by comparing regions that have attained the status of Orderly Measurement Regions (Daerah Tertib Ukur/DTU) with those that have not. The study adopts a qualitative approach with a comparative inter-regional design, drawing on policy and budget document analysis as well as in-depth interviews with 18 key informants across six regencies and municipalities. The findings indicate that regional success in achieving DTU status is determined by a combination of local political commitment, fiscal capacity, availability of technical human resources, and service innovation. The article underscores the need for harmonisation of central–local policies, strengthening of institutional capacity, and the development of sustainable financing schemes to ensure that the decentralisation of legal metrology services genuinely generates public value.