Government Revises the Minister of Trade Regulation Again
Revision of the Minister of Trade Regulation
The Government has once again revised Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) No. 36 of 2023.
The revision resulted in Minister of Trade Regulation No. 8 of 2024.
The regulation had already been revised three times. The previous amendments were Minister of Trade Regulation No. 3 of 2024 and Minister of Trade Regulation No. 7 of 2024, which was issued in April.
President Joko Widodo held an internal meeting on Friday afternoon, May 17, 2024.
The meeting involved:
- Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto
- Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani
- Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang
- Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga
They discussed the implementation of Minister of Trade Regulation No. 36 of 2023 concerning Import Policies and Regulations.
The regulation became effective on March 10, 2024.
Issuance of the New Regulation
The meeting resulted in the issuance of a new regulation, Minister of Trade Regulation No. 8 of 2024.
The regulation immediately came into effect and was promulgated on the afternoon of Friday, May 17, 2024.
The implementation of Minister of Trade Regulation No. 36 of 2023 regulated restrictions on the quantity of personal goods carried by airline passengers arriving from overseas.
The policy also covered regulations concerning shipments belonging to Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI), as well as import prohibitions and restrictions.
All of these provisions were implemented at the same time.
The Government expected Minister of Trade Regulation No. 36 of 2023 to help protect domestic products from imported goods that could easily enter Indonesia.
Finished goods and consumer products were considered a threat to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) because local businesses could face difficulty competing in terms of price.
Minister of Trade Regulation No. 36 of 2023 was therefore introduced with the intention of protecting domestic industries.
However, its implementation received many negative responses.
As a result, the regulation was revised for the third time through Minister of Trade Regulation No. 8 of 2024 concerning the Third Amendment to Minister of Trade Regulation No. 36 of 2023.
Purpose of the Minister of Trade Regulation
Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan stated that the Government continues to encourage domestic industries so that they can compete with imported products.
Therefore, the Minister of Trade Regulation was introduced to protect the domestic market from unfair competition.
“The intention was to protect domestic industries, so restrictions and prohibitions were applied to all raw materials. As a result, the production of several commodities was disrupted. Therefore, for certain industrial raw material commodities, the regulations were returned to the previous arrangement,” said Zulkifli (TEMPO, May 12, 2024).
Since the regulation became effective on March 10, 2024, a significant number of containers had been held at ports.
A total of:
- 17,304 containers at Tanjung Priok Port
- 9,111 containers at Tanjung Perak Port
were held because Import Approvals (Persetujuan Impor/PI) and Technical Considerations (Pertek) had not yet been issued for several commodities.
These commodities included:
- Iron and steel
- Textiles
- Textile products
- Chemical products
- Electronic products
- Other commodities
If you are planning to obtain a Technical Consideration document for an imported product, PT. Alpha Romeo Teknologi can assist you.