Indonesia Puts Floor on Online Imports

The Indonesia government is rolling out new ecommerce regulations that will limit online imports into the country by requiring that sales from foreign ecommerce merchants be priced at a minimum of USD $100 or its equivalent. The regulation is attempting to protect the interests of local micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, the Jakarta Globe reported.

The regulation also includes provisions to limit the involvement of social media platforms like TikTok in ecommerce activities within their apps. Trade Ministry regulation (Permendag) No. 31/2023 concerning Business Licensing, Advertising, Development and Supervision of Business Operators in Electronic Commerce was issued on September 26, 2023, and mandates the separation of social commerce platforms from ecommerce. Social commerce can place ads, just as they do on television, but they cannot be transactional.