A Perspective on Imposing Import Duty on Digital Goods in Indonesia

Abstract

Since 1998, the WTO Members have applied a moratorium against tariffs on international
electronic transmissions (commonly referred to as the WTO ‘E-Commerce’ Moratorium).
However, some WTO Members have recently taken steps to undermine the Moratorium,
given the potential revenues that might be generated by imposing tariffs on electronic
transmissions, included Indonesia. With this potential revenues generated by imposing
tariffs on electronic transmissions, the Indonesian government issued Ministry of Finance
Regulation No. 17/PMK.010/2018, provides Chapter 99 to covers intangible goods (ie,
software and other digital products) that previously were not covered under the Indonesian
tariff system. The next issues after regulation issued are how governments develop new
capabilities to implement it. This study will explore alternative policy to implement
customs regulation related to digital goods with a qualitative approach using the case
study.