After sellers in Indonesia voiced their displeasures with the current set of ecommerce rules, the Indonesian government is revising them. The changes are aimed at creating a platform that is beneficial for all parties and protects consumers, sellers, and local products.
The Indonesian Government is Revising Ecommerce Rules
The Indonesian government is preparing to make changes the the country’s digital trade and ecommerce rules. Currently, ecommerce in the country is regulated under the Trade Ministry Regulation No. 31 of 2023. This covers a variety of things including advertising, business licensing, and the development and supervision of ecommerce activities.
According to Budi Santoso, Trade Minister, the government is “preparing revisions related to e-commerce ecosystem regulations. However, the details cannot yet be conveyed because discussions are still ongoing”. It’s also unclear how this news impacts cross-border sellers who market products in the growing Indonesian market.
Seller Complaints Have Pushed the Government to Take Action
This decision by the Indonesian government follows complaints from sellers and small businesses about the high costs, both administrative and logistic, that digital platforms impose on them.
In addition to helping sellers with these costs, the revision aims to boost the protection for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their products, better promote domestic products on ecommerce platforms, and improve consumer protection. Ultimately, leadership is focused on creating a system that’s mutually beneficial for all parties.
Multiple stakeholders are said to be participating in the revisions to help make them as fair as possible for everyone. This includes business owners, merchants, and platform operators. With this commitment to change, the Indonesian government is showing that it’s serious about building a digital economy that’s inclusive and benefits all participants.
Leveling the Playing Field
Much of the focus of these new rules is to make things more fair for local companies and sellers, by protecting them and prioritizing the promotion of domestic products on platforms.
Sellers in many other regions around the world would likely enjoy rules like this being implemented in their countries. For example, cheap ecommerce imports are becoming much more common in the European Union, and the low prices of these products are making it hard for EU sellers to compete.
On one side, EU sellers can match these prices to retain more customers, but this would likely leave them with thin margins. On the other hand, if they don’t match these prices and continue to sell at a price that makes sense based on their costs, they may lose potential customers who are just looking to spend as little as possible.
In addition to unfair competition, many of these international shipments entering Europe from other regions violate the rules and may be dangerous for consumers to buy and use.
This is only one example of the many nations and/or regions that have local companies and sellers that would likely enjoy government assistance to help them keep up with and compete with international sellers.
While it remains to be seen if other countries revise rules similarly, it’s certainly possible that other countries or regions follow suit and level the playing field for local sellers and domestic products.
