OJK Releases New Consumer Protection Rules: Financial Institutions Must Form Customer Complaints Unit

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is known to have just issued Financial Services Authority Regulation (POJK) Number 6/POJK.07/2022 concerning Consumer and Community Protection in the Financial Services Sector.

This regulation also updates POJK No. 1/POJK.07/2013 which, among other things, regulates the application of consumer protection by the financial services industry since product planning, service and dispute resolution.

Member of the Board of Commissioners for Consumer Education and Protection at OJK, Tirta Segara, said that the new regulation clarifies the obligations of the principle of openness and transparency of product and service information as well as increasing the protection of consumer data and information.

"This further strengthens the regulation on consumer protection and the obligations of financial services business actors in response to the dynamics of change in the industry," he said in an official statement on Wednesday, May 18.

According to Tirta, strengthening protection is very much needed to match the development of innovation and technology. In addition, POJK 6/2022 is considered to be a foothold in encouraging sustainable and stable growth of the financial industry.

"The preparation of this POJK has also involved various stakeholders, including business actors, academics, legal experts, associations and Alternative Dispute Resolution Institutions for the Financial Services Sector (LAPS) to non-governmental organizations to get input or suggestions," he said.

The editor noted that one of the important points in POJK 6/2022 is that it is mandatory for business actors to establish a kind of complaint unit and customer protection.

The following are some of the substance of improvements to strengthen consumer and public protection which are covered in POJK Number 6/POJK.07/2022.

1. A regulatory approach to the product and or service life cycle that further optimizes efforts to protect consumers and the public from product and or service design to dispute handling and resolution.

2. Strengthening the principle of consumer and public protection, among others, requires FSBs to carry out “adequate education” so as to increase the ability of consumers and the public to choose products and services in the financial services sector.

3. Strengthening the application of the principle of openness and transparency of information through regulation of forms, procedures and exceptions for the submission of summary information on products and services.

4. Strengthening support for consumers and/or people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as increasing the protection of consumer data and information.

5. The obligation to provide sufficient time for consumers to understand the agreement before signing or a pause after signing the agreement for products and services that have a long and or complex nature.

6. Obligation to record when product and or service offerings are made through personal communication by voice and or video.

7. Affirmation of the authority of the OJK in protecting consumers, including supervision of market conduct as a form of implementation of articles 28 to 30 of the OJK Law.

8. Obligation to establish a unit or function for consumer and community protection.

9. Obligation to submit self-assessment reports by PUJK to OJK regarding compliance with consumer protection provisions.