Knock! New Permendag No Longer Set Limit On The Number Of PMI Sends

Director of Imports of the Ministry of Trade Arif Sulistyo (Photo: Screenshot by Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) no longer regulates the number of goods sent by Indonesian migrant workers (PMI). Now, the rules regarding the amount of goods are regulated by the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK).

This is stated in the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 7 of 2024 concerning the Second Amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 36 of 2023 concerning Policy and Regulation of Imports.

Director of Imports of the Ministry of Trade Arif Sulistyo said PMI's shipments are no longer regulated in the Permendag, which was previously regulated in Attachment III of the Minister of Trade Regulation 36/2023.

Arif said PMI's goods are now regulated in PMK 141/2023 concerning the Provisions for Importing Indonesian Migrant Workers' Goods. This decision was taken after a limited coordination meeting at the ministerial level.

In the meeting it was determined that PMI's goods were PMI's belongings who were working abroad and not for trade.

"From these points, it was finally agreed that there was no need to regulate the regulation on import policies and regulations," he said in a virtual discussion, Thursday, May 2.

Arief also said that there had been data integration between the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Integration of this data to find out that the item belongs to PMI.

"How do you ensure that it is sent by PMI? There are already BP2MI integrations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Directorate General of Customs and Cekai Indonesia (DJBC Ministry of Finance)," he explained.

The rules regarding PMI's luggage are contained in point one of the amendments to Permendag 7/2024, namely there are no restrictions on the type of goods, except for goods that are prohibited from importing and dangerous goods.

Such as rough oranges, non-pharmacy precursors, russylose (NC), explosives, ozone coating destroyers (BPO), cooling system-based goods, hazardous materials, hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), non-new lithium batteries, and non-B3 waste.