Good importers are committed to trade and importing; they are engaged in landing and clearing products all the time. Finding the right importer and building a strong relationship with them will ultimately mean better access to the market. The cardinal rule about forming partnerships in Indonesia is ‘take the time to get it right first… Read More

New food labelling requirements were introduced in 1999 and are the responsibility of the Food and Drug Control Body (Badan POM or BPOM). Labelling requirements are designed to ensure that the consumer can be accurately informed about the ingredients in processed food and its status as a halal or non-halal product. Post market control is… Read More

Indonesia’s system of food regulation is based on: National standards including mandatory standards for selected products Sanitary / phytosanitary inspection of primary products Registration of processed food products by a specially constituted authority—the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) Food labelling regulations. National standardsNational standards, which are the responsibility of the National Standards… Read More

Import duty calculation and ‘check price’ systemImport duties and other domestic taxes (see below) are based on the CIF value; that is, the landed cost in an Indonesian port, including freight and insurance. As a result of under-declaration of import values by some importers, Indonesian Customs implemented a ‘check price’ system in 2002 to assess… Read More

Tariffs Indonesia has cut its tariffs on food and other imports sharply during the last ten years. Effective from 1 February 1998, tariffs on all food items were reduced to a maximum of 5%, with just a few exceptions. A summary of current tariff rates on food products is set out in Table 5.1. The… Read More

The Investment Board The Investment Board (Badan Penanaman Modal or shortly known as “BPM”) is assigned to assist Indonesian Government in handling the foreign / domestic investment matters in Indonesia. In general, BPM among others has the following functions: To formulate investment policies and convey them to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for… Read More

ESTABLISHING A FOREIGN INVESTMENT COMPANYInvestment in Indonesia is regulated mainly by New Investment Law No.25 of 2007 (April 26, 2007) (“Law 25/07”). Law 25/07 integrates the previous investment laws and its implementing regulations to some extent, but deals with some of the bottlenecks frequently cited by foreign investors doing business in the country. Important changes… Read More

Respondents whose firms were also doing business in Southeast Asian countries other than Indonesia were asked whether the profitability of their Indonesian operations was much lower than, lower than, about the same as, higher than, or much higher than that of their other Southeast Asian operations. Of the 89 senior executives who answered this question,… Read More