Dissecting the ambiguous Articles of E-Commerce RPP

We have discussed E-Commerce RPP which is rumored that every entity that conducts buying and selling activities online must go through the verification phase first. In the Draft Government Regulation on Trading Transactions Through Electronic Systems (RPP TPMSE), the official name for the RPP E-Commerce that we received, there are several articles that should require revision.

Indeed, the TPMSE RPP is not always negative. The spirit that is carried is so that consumers are protected from problems when transactions made online do not work as expected. However, there are several articles that are proposed and they seem too strict, even compared to the practice in developed countries though.

The TPMSE RPP dated June 21, 2015 has 87 articles that have not been completed in its entirety. If in the previous article we mentioned the obligation to verify data for both parties, it turns out that the RPP we received only required traders. The article reads:

Article 18Paragraph (1): Business Actors who carry out trading transaction activities through the electronic system are required to have a special registration mark as Trade Transaction Business Actors through the Electronic System from the Minister. Paragraph (2): PTPMSE and traders who have their own TPMSE system are required to have a special license for trading through the electronic system from the Minister. Article 19Paragraph (1): For Business Actors who have been registered as Business Actors of Trading Transactions Through Electronic Systems, they will obtain Company Identity Numbers Electronically.Paragraph (2): The Electronic Company Identity Number as referred to in paragraph (1) must be able to be included and/or used as the legal identity of the Trader or PTPMSE.

Based on the article, there is a special registration mark that must be obtained before starting an online-based business. The special registration certificate in question should require an ID card number and NPWP as proof of the legitimacy of the business being carried out. If in the process it creates its own peculiarities, don't be surprised if later the perpetrators E-commerce will return to using social media to trade.

In the previous article we also assumed that this regulation would onlyexhibits Indonesia-based e-commerce player. So there is no doubt that later the players will move abroad, or alternatively the buyers will make transactions on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, or sites that are not exposed to Indonesian regulations. However, this idea seems to be collided with Article 13 and Article 68.

Article 13Traders, PTPMSE, and Intermediary Providers domiciled abroad who conduct trade transactions through the electronic system with Consumers domiciled in Indonesia are considered to be conducting operational activities in Indonesia.Article 68Business Actors who offer electronically to Indonesian Consumers are considered to have a physical presence in Indonesia and carry out business activities permanently in Indonesia.

As long as you are registered as an Indonesian citizen, shopping online in any country will follow the legislation, then article 68 "forces" foreign marketplace services to comply with domestic regulations.

On the other hand, the TPMSE bill "forces" services E-commerce and marketplace to accept the refund and return process. Article 77 requires traders and PTPMSE to provide a period of at least two working days for the exchange of goods starting from the time the goods are received by consumers. Items that can be exchanged are those that are not suitable, damaged, or expired.

In this article, consumers who exchange goods are charged a return shipping fee, whereas in developed countries such as the United States, the average return process does not charge any fees to consumers. What if the shipment is made to Papua, where shipping costs are expensive, and the consumer has to bear the additional shipping costs? For some marketplace large, there should be further partnerships with logistics services to facilitate this return process.

There is a long road for stakeholders to take in order to realize the ecosystem E-commerce better. The Ministry of Trade who proposes the RPP should sit down with associations and e-commerce players to finalize and perfect articles that still tend to be ambiguous.