The Arriving Of Electronic Certificates Does Not Make Physical Land Certificates Withdrawn

Minister of ATR / BPN Sofyan Djalil in a virtual webinar, Thursday 4 February. (Mentari Dwi Gayati / Antara))

JAKARTA - The Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR / BPN) Sofyan Djalil responded to the controversy over the change of physical certificates to electronic certificates (e-certificates) which is currently becoming controversial in the community.

As reported by Antara, Friday, February 5, Minister Sofyan Djalil emphasized that the ATR/BPN Ministry will not withdraw physical land certificates that are still owned by the community. According to Sofyan, many people have a misunderstanding regarding this electronic certificate replacement.

"BPN will never withdraw a certificate. If someone claims that BPN wants to withdraw the certificate, don't be served. The existing certificate remains valid until later it is transferred to electronic media," Sofyan said in a virtual webinar held by the ATR/BPN Ministry, Thursday, February 4th.

Previously, the Ministry was carrying out digital transformations, one of which was land certificates through Regulation of the Minister of ATR/Head of BPN Number 1 of 2021 concerning Electronic Certificates which came into effect in 2021.

Sofyan explained that in addition to the change of certificates, four electronic services have been implemented by the Ministry of ATR/BPN in the last year, namely Electronic Mortgage, Certificate Check, Land Value Zone, and Land Registration Certificate.

According to him, the public does not need to feel disadvantaged by the replacement of this certificate, considering that electronic products are the safest form. In addition, a number of financial products have also switched into digital forms, such as savings books to stocks in the capital market.

"There is a lot of controversy in the community so that it seems as if this electronic certificate is detrimental. To note, electronic products are actually the safest. In the past, if you bought shares in the capital market, there were physical shares, now they are converted into digital shares," said Sofyan.

Also the launch of this electronic certificate aimed at creating efficiency in land registration, legal certainty, and legal protection, reducing the number of disputes, conflicts, and court cases regarding land.

In addition, electronic certificates are considered to increase the value of "registering property" in order to improve the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rating.