Sales Of Imported Goods Below 100 US Dollars On Official Online Stores Are Prohibited

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) officially prohibits the sale of imported goods at e-commerce below 100 US dollars or equivalent to Rp1,550,000 (assuming an exchange rate of Rp15,500 per dollar).

This prohibition applies to goods sent directly by crossborder.

The regulation refers to Permendag Number 31 of 2023 concerning business licensing, advertising, coaching, and supervision of business actors in trading through electronic systems.

Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan said this step was taken by the government to protect local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) products.

"Governments around the world will certainly protect their domestic MSMEs," he said at a press conference, written Thursday, September 28.

For your information, the complete provisions regarding this prohibition are regulated in Article 19 of the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 31 of 2023.

Article 19 reads that PPMSE, which carries out transnational PMSE activities, is obliged to apply the minimum price of goods on its electronic system to merchants who directly sell finished goods from abroad to Indonesia.

"The minimum item price as referred to in paragraph (1) is a freight on board (FOB) of 100 US dollars per unit," reads Article 19 paragraph 2.

In paragraph 3 it is explained, in the event that the price of goods as referred to in paragraph (2) is given in a different currency, conversion is carried out using the value of the exchange rate set by the minister who organizes government affairs in the state finance sector.

"Goods at prices below the minimum price of goods as referred to in paragraph (2) are allowed to enter directly through the PPMSE which carries out cross-border PMSE activities, determined by the minister based on the results of a ministerial/head-level coordination meeting of the relevant non-ministerial government institutions," reads article 19 paragraph 4.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Isy Karim, explained that there are types of imported products that will be excluded from the regulation.

However, he said, the list of positive lists is still under discussion.

Isy explained that the list of items also needed to be discussed between ministries and institutions. He said it was possible that this positive list would be regulated through the Decree of the Minister of Trade.

"Positive list will be discussed again," said Isy.