Wahroni, Jakarta – Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan inspected the implementation of Trade Minister Regulation (Permendag) Number 7 of 2024, which regulates imported goods restrictions, at the international arrival area of Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Monday.
Zulkifli Hasan explained that the regulation is a revision of the previous regulation, Permendag 36 of 2023, which had been criticized by migrant workers, local industry associations, and consumers.
"We observed that there are no more issues; everything is going smoothly. Most of the goods coming in are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Dubai," said Zulkifli at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
Apart from following up on imported goods for Indonesian migrant workers (PMI), Zulkifli mentioned that they were also addressing the issue of passengers' personal imported goods from abroad.
According to Zulkifli, they still found passengers, commonly known as personal shoppers (jastip), bringing electronic devices that might be intended for resale in Indonesia. "And that is not allowed," he explained.
Zulkifli said that for passengers who bring goods from abroad with the intention of reselling them in Indonesia, these goods must be sent through cargo delivery services.According to Arif Sulistiyo, the Director of Imports at the Directorate General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, the new regulation addresses the issues that were previously criticized by the public, namely regarding the goods sent by Indonesian migrant workers and passengers' personal imported goods.
Firstly, concerning the goods sent by Indonesian migrant workers, Arif explained that after a ministerial-level coordination meeting, it was decided that these goods are considered personal items sent by workers and are not for trading. Therefore, it was agreed that these goods would not be subject to import regulations under the regulation.
Secondly, regarding passengers' personal goods, there is now no limitation. Previously, passengers of international flights were restricted to two pairs of footwear and two bags. They were allowed to bring a maximum of five textile products and electronics totaling $1,500, limited to five units. Mobile phones, headsets, and tablet computers were capped at two units per passenger per year.