Gov't to Study Policy on Direct Imports via E-Commerce

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government decided to soon study a scheme to control rampant direct imports through e-commerce trade.

“We are urged to prepare [a policy] to anticipate flooding of direct import,” said Trade Ministry’s Director General of Domestic Trade Tjahya Widayanti in the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs office, Jakarta, Wednesday, July 17.

According to Tjahya, the scheme includes import duty, non-tariff barriers, or tax. “We will review all aspects.”

The regulation, he added, is expected to ensure foreign products have an equal playing field level in the country. Presently, imported products in the domestic are considered disproportionate, despite the practice is legal as long as it abides by the prevailing regulation. Moreover, the value of direct imports in the online trade transaction is not too high.

“Based on data and information, the value is not high; lower than five percent (from the total transaction),” Tjahya said.

However, the government does not have precise data on the transaction in question. Therefore, after discussion with other ministries, the government plans to benchmark to other countries in light of this cross border trade.

“We do only want to assure the security since the trend is feared to rise and cannot be controlled, so we will draft the regulation,” said Tjahja, hoping that e-commerce actors willing to provide data to the government to support the matter.

CAESAR AKBAR