Indonesia’s Government Regulation No. 20 of 2017 on Control of Import and Export of Goods Resulting from Intellectual Property Infringement became effective on August 2, 2017, and was issued to support implementation of customs measures under Law No. 17 of 2006. The new regulation enables customs recordation and measures to control imported and exported goods that are suspected to infringe on intellectual property (IP) rights.
Customs Recordation
Under the new regulation, an application for trademark or copyright recordal can be submitted to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGCE) by a trademark or copyright owner with valid Indonesian registrations. The required application documents include:
- Proof of trademark or copyright ownership.
- For trademark, information on authenticity of the product (e.g. trademark, goods, trade names, product appearances, packaging, distribution and marketing route, and the amount of products marketed within a territory).
- For copyright, information on characteristics or specification of copyright works in the fields of science, art, literature, or related rights.
- Statement of liability from the applicant that they will be responsible for the outcome of the recordation.
According to the regulation, the DGCE will either grant or reject the application within 30 days after filing. An approved recordation will be valid for one year and can be renewed. However, specific procedures related to this recordation procedure will be issued under a separate regulation by the Ministry of Finance.
Customs Restraint and Suspension
Based on the customs recordation information mentioned above, customs officers who find any suspected IP-infringing goods that are in the process of being exported or imported are entitled to restrain such goods and send a notification to the trademark or copyright owner. Upon receiving the notification, the IP owner will have up to two days to provide confirmation to the DGCE as to whether or not they wish to request a customs suspension for the suspected infringing goods. After confirmation has been made with the DGCE, the IP owner has up to four days to file a separate suspension request with the Commercial Court.
