We are organizing a fair trade between online and offline (businesses) because offline businesses are heavily regulated and online businesses are still free.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (MenkopUKM) Teten Masduki has said the government wants to issue rules to ensure fair trade for e-commerce and offline businesses.

To achieve this end, it will revise the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 50 of 2020 on the provisions on business licensing, advertising, guidance, and supervision of businesses in trade through electronic systems.

"We are organizing a fair trade between online and offline (businesses) because offline businesses are heavily regulated and online businesses are still free. The key is in the revision of the Regulation of the Minister of Trade," he informed after a meeting led by President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Monday.

Based on the President’s instruction, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) will implement new provisions through the revision of the Minister of Trade's Regulation Number 50 of 2020, he said.

The new provisions include a strict distinction between social commerce platforms and electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms, he added.

Then, for e-commerce platforms, transactions for imported goods will only be allowed starting from a price of US$100 (Rp1,541,110).

The government will also create a "positive list" or list of goods that can be imported and marketed through e-commerce platforms, he added.

Currently, a number of overseas products are being sold online and offline at very cheap prices, which is affecting the sales of products made by domestic micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said he will sign the new regulation revising the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 50 of 2020 on Monday evening.

One important revision in the regulation will be an order for social commerce platforms to support trade transactions.

Social commerce platforms will only be allowed to promote goods and services, and they will be forbidden from providing a transaction facility for users.

"Social commerce (platforms) can only facilitate promotions for goods and services. No more direct transactions (and) direct payment, (they) cannot do that anymore. They can only promote," Hasan said.

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Translator: Indra AP, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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