The Indonesian government is currently trying to tighten the flow of imported goods into Indonesia. As part of that effort, the government aims to further amend Minister of Trade Regulation No. 25 of 2022 on Amendment of Minister of Trade Regulation No. 20 of 2021 on Policy and Arrangements of Import (“MOT Regulation No.25/2022“). The revision involves changing the import trading system for several types of commodities from “post-border” to “border”. The difference between the post-border trade system (“Post-border“) and the border trade system (“Border“) is the supervision system of the import permits for imported goods. To put it simply, the post-border system is the supervision of import permits by the relevant ministries after the goods are cleared from the port. The border system is the supervision of import permits by the relevant ministries before the goods can be cleared from the port.
The commodities that are affected by the revised MOT Regulation No.25/2022 related to the import trading systems is as follows:
- Footwear
- Electronics
- Cosmetics and household health supplies
- Traditional medicine and health supplements
- Other finished textile goods
- Children’s toys
- Apparel and clothing accessories
- Bicycles and tricycles
- Bags
- Certain food and beverage products
One of the import restrictions is that a party that wants to import those commodities must first obtain a surveyor report (“LS”) and import approval (“PI”). For the commodities in points 1 to 9 above, the supervision system is Border and the import restrictions are LS and PI. For the commodities in point 10, the supervision system is Post-border and the import restriction is an LS.
Besides the revised MOT Regulation No.25/2022, the government unofficially has prepared a positive list of goods that are subject to the minimum price requirement based on Minister of Trade Regulation No. 31 of 2023 on Business Licensing, Advertising, Development and Supervision of Business Players in Electronic Commerce (“MOT Regulation No.31 of 2023“). As a context, Article 19 Paragraph (1) and Paragraph (2) of MOT Regulation No.31 of 2023 provide that USD 100 is the minimum goods price per unit for transactions in cross-border E-Commerce. Related to the provision, the government has prepared a positive list of goods as the exemption on those provision (goods with prices below USD 100 that are allowed to be imported directly through E-Commerce), i.e., books, movies, software and music. However, to date, the MOT has not yet issued the positive list in the form of MOT decision.
