MSMEs Minister Maman Abdurrahman shared this plan in response to a report about the Mangga Dua shopping center in Jakarta being a hotspot for counterfeit or pirated products.
"This report has prompted us at the Ministry of MSMEs to move toward the formation of a task force for the protection and empowerment of MSMEs in Indonesia," he said in Jakarta on Friday.
He added that the planned task force would be empowered to take action against those involved in the distribution and sale of counterfeit goods.
The minister informed that his team has coordinated with other ministries and agencies to move the plan forward, while engaging various stakeholders in discussions to strengthen surveillance and protection efforts for Indonesian MSMEs.
Furthermore, he explained that these efforts are also intended to guide domestic MSMEs to become prolific in producing high-quality products.
The minister also shared plans for his team to conduct a first-hand inspection of the goods in question.
"We will directly check the goods on the ground," he stated.
He made the remarks in response to the 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which flagged the Mangga Dua market as being saturated with goods violating intellectual property rights.
In the wake of the report, Indonesia's Industry Ministry on April 22, 2025, pledged to tighten controls on imports of such products.
The ministry's spokesperson, Febri Hendri Antoni Arif, said that most counterfeit goods enter the country through standard imports or e-commerce platforms, often using bonded logistics centers.
As a solution, he informed, the ministry plans to draft a regulation that will require importers and sellers of foreign goods to display brand certificates on their e-commerce pages.
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Translator: Shofi A, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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