The Government Regulations on Implementation of Electronic System and Transactions Has Been Published, Now What?

Government Regulations on Implementation of Electronic System and Transaction has been officially signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on October 12. Thus, the regulation which was mandated by the 2008 law number 11 on Electronic Information and Transactions (UU ITE), becomes enforceable. The regulation was published as PP Nomor 82 Tahun 2012.

The regulation has been talked about throughout 2012. In addition to further clarifying the ITE law, this regulation also greatly affects the providers of electronic transaction systems and services in Indonesia such as Research In Motion (RIM) and Google. With this regulation, they are subjected to build a data center in Indonesia.

Copies of said regulation has not been made available in the Legislation Information System owned by the Cabinet Secretary of Republic of Indonesia. But the news release in the Setkab’s website confirms that one of the content of the regulation subjects the provider of electronic system and transaction in Indonesia to store transaction data inside the country.

With this PSTE regulation, the Executive Director of Lembaga Pengembangan dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Informasi (LPPMI) - Information Community Development and Empowerment, Kamilov Sagala, asked the government to no longer being soft toward RIM and Google. As reported by Indo Telko, Sagala asked the government to call RIM and Google immediately to inform that the PSTE regulation - which one of the articles govern on data center placement in Indonesia, has been passed.

But the government, through the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, cannot directly order RIM and Google to build the data center. According to the Executive Director of Indonesia ICT Institute, Heru Sutadi, the Ministry still needs to form a minister regulation to describe said government regulation.

One of the points needs describing, according to Sutadi, is the definition of public service. Because, in the practice in the field, there are three kinds of public services, namely paid, free but transaction is possible such as online shop, and free. Other than that, the government needs to consult every concerning party because there will argument on which services are considered the subject to place a data center in Indonesia and which are not.

Not only affecting foreign companies in Indonesia, this regulation also applies to local electronic service provider companies which locate their data center outside the country. Before this regulation, RIM has denied repeatedly to build data center in Indonesia. Soon, we will see RIM’s and other companies reaction in relation to endorsement of the regulation.

[Image Source: UCSA.]