Indonesia Must Firmly Face The Klausul Transfer Of Personal Data In The Trade Agreement With The US

JAKARTA Economic observer from Andalas University, Syafruddin Karimi emphasized that in dealing with the clause on the transfer of personal data to the United States in the 2025 Resipultal Trade Agreement, Indonesia must be firm, sovereign, and not subject to pressure on digital liberalization that has the potential to sacrifice the rights of citizens.

According to him, personal data transfer is not just a technical issue in trade, but is directly related to digital sovereignty, national security, and economic justice.

"Indonesia must not automatically approve a cross-border data transfer scheme without adequate legal protection, especially considering that the United States does not yet have a federal data protection law equivalent to the European GDPR," he said in his statement, Thursday, July 24.

According to him, any request for data access by a company or entity from the US must be accompanied by equal requirements, such as mutual legal protection, audit rights for Indonesian authorities, and full control of citizen-owned strategic data.

Syafruddin also emphasized the importance of negotiating the sovereign data clause in the agreement, to ensure that Indonesian citizen data remains in the jurisdiction of national law, even though it is processed abroad.

He suggested that Indonesia could delay international commitments related to data transfer to the Personal Data Protection Act (UU PDP) which is truly operational and its supervisory agency is formed.

"Otherwise, Indonesia is at risk of not being able to protect the rights of its citizens in front of a global technology giant company," he said.

Furthermore, he conveyed that the issue of data transfer should not only be handled bilaterally, but be brought to regional forums such as ASEAN or the G77 group, so that the position of developing countries on the global data architecture will be stronger and more solid.

Syafruddin emphasized that personal data transfers should not be exchanged for pseudo market access and Indonesia must ensure that every data byte that comes out brings justice, return, and complete national control.

Previously, the White House released a framework for the Indonesia-United States (US) reciprocal trade agreement, on Tuesday, July 22. One of them is about personal data transfer.

Meanwhile, the joint statement is part of the trade rate agreement between the two countries, namely Indonesia's trade rate minus the US from 32 percent to 19 percent.

"Indonesia has committed to overcoming obstacles that have an impact on trade, services, and digital investment. Indonesia will provide certainty regarding the ability to transfer personal data out of its territory to the United States," the statement said.

In addition, Indonesia has committed to abolishing the HTS tariff line in intangible products and suspending related requirements on import declarations; to support the permanent moratorium of import duties on electronic transmission at the WTO immediately and unconditionally; and to take effective action to implement the Joint Initiative on Jasa Domestic Regulation, including submitting a Special Commitment that has been revised for certification by the World Trade Organization (WTO).