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The Indonesian Ministry of Trade, on Thursday (27/12), has issued the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 82/M-DAG/PER/12/2012 regarding Importation Provision for Cellular Phones, Handheld Computers, and Tablet Computers.

“This Regulation of the Minister of Trade is issued to support the Health, Safety, Security and Environment (K3L) and to support the industrialization of cellular phones and computers in the future,” said Gita Wirjawan, the Indonesian Minister of Trade.

According to the Minister of Trade, with the increase of the import volume of these computer devices, to meet standards of quality, a tighter supervision of quality and technical standards of these products needs to be conducted in order to protect consumer interests. “With this regulation, every cellular phone, handheld computer, and tablet computer imported must meet the quality standards and technical requirements that apply,” he emphasized.

Tanjung Priok Sea Port in Jakarta is one of the sea port authorized for smart phone importations

Several examples of technical requirements that apply are among others the requirements of labeling, manual, and warranty card in Bahasa Indonesia issued by the Directorate General of Standardization and Consumer Protection from the Ministry of Trade, and technical standards from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Furthermore, to conduct import of those three aforementioned things, the importation company must be established as a Registered Importer (IT) and have an Import Approval (PI) specifically for the imported products from the Ministry of Trade.

The Acting Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade Bachrul Chairi explained that in order to obtain an Import Approval, a Registered Importer must first obtain an Imported Product Registration Number (TPP) from the Director General of Advanced Technology-Based Prime Industry (IUBTT) of the Ministry of Industry, and a Certificate of Telecommunications Devices and Equipment from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Based on the provision, cellular phones, handheld computers, and tablet computers imported by Registered Importers may only be traded and/or released to distributors and not to retailers or directly to consumers.

Importation of these devices may also be done through approved seaports and airports. Those authorized sea ports and airports are Belawan Sea Port in Medan, Tanjung Priok Sea Port in Jakarta, Tanjung Emas Sea Port in Semarang, Tanjung Perak Sea Port in Surabaya, Soekarno-Hatta Sea Port in Makassar, Polonia Airport in Medan, Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang, Juanda Airport in Surabaya, and Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar.

A surveyor appointed by the Minister of Trade will conduct a verification or technical review of imported good the port of loading for every items imported.

The import of these products, which was previously regulated by the Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 57/M-DAG/PER/12/2010, may still be done by Listed Importers of Certain Products as long as they are shipped from the country of origin before January 1st 2013 and reaches its port of destination at the latest by February 28th 2013.

“This Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 82 Year 2012 will take effect starting on January 1st 2013,” explained Bachrul Chairi.