This provision is contained in the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 31 of 2023 concerning Business Licensing, Advertising, Development and Supervision of Business Actors in Trading via Electronic Systems. This policy emphasizes that social commerce, such as TikTok, is not permitted to sell. However, only promotion of goods and services is permitted. Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan explained that several main regulations in Minister of Trade Regulation 31 of 2023 include defining various business models for PMSE organizers, starting from marketplaces to social commerce. Through this definition, guidance and supervision of PMSE can be carried out optimally, including regarding licensing, taxation and other trading provisions.
"In this Minister of Trade Regulation, social commerce is defined as a social media organizer that provides certain features, menus and/or facilities that enable traders to place offers for goods and/or services," he explained, Friday (29/9).
Furthermore, Zulhas said, this regulation was issued to address various unhealthy practices in trading via electronic systems which are detrimental to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Due to this, the government is committed to building an electronic commerce (e-commerce) ecosystem that is fair, healthy and beneficial.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Febri Hendri Antoni Arif admitted that he saw many imported products coming in via social media applications. “We support government policies that limit social media applications for selling or transactions. "We support social media only for promotion," he stressed.
Business actors and the textile industry in West Java (Jabar) are threatened with stopping production. This is the result of predatory pricing practices or sales at prices far below capital on social commerce platforms. For your information, the practice of predatory pricing is really starting to be felt by textile business actors after experiencing a decline in demand, thereby suppressing turnover.
It even has an impact on decreasing production and termination of employment (PHK) for MSME employees. This was discovered during the visit of the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop-UKM) Teten Masduki in Bandung, Majalaya District, West Java, Sunday (24/9).
"We, together with apparel and textile industry players, discussed this matter and indeed there was a quite drastic decline because MSME players who produce Muslim clothing, headscarves, ready-made clothing sold in wholesale markets such as Tanah Abang, ITC Kebon Kelapa, Andir Market were observed to have dropped "As a result, demand for clothing, fabrics and textiles has decreased drastically," said Teten.
During the discussion, a number of textile business actors were present, including the Indonesian Textile Association (API), the Bandung Convection Entrepreneurs Association (IPKB), the Majalaya Textile Association, and the Bandung Regency KADIN. Teten said that their products were unable to compete not because of quality, but because of the price which was not included in the cost of goods sold (HPP) for textile SMEs/IKMs who were unable to compete.
"I received information that there are indications of rampant uncontrolled imports of ready-made clothing and textile products. These low prices are predatory pricing on online platforms, hitting offline traders and the convection production sector as well as the textile industry being flooded with very cheap products from abroad," said Teten .
This also happened because it was encouraged by the safe guard regulations which did not work properly. For this reason, the Government is trying to improve and coordinate with the Minister of State Secretary for future steps. "Because once again, this authority lies with the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Finance. President Jokowi has said that as soon as possible there will be a law that regulates this," explained Teten.
Not only that, Teten feels there is a need for special HPP for textile products. Because, in China itself, they apply a model that goods entering there cannot be below HPP. "If we implement this, it can protect domestic industry," he said.
