Ruling hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2021 on the Harmonization of Taxation Regulations, Tuesday (1/18/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2022 | 16:19 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) granted the withdrawal request of the judicial review petition of Law No. 7 of 2021 on the Harmonization of Taxation Regulations (HPP Law). The hearing for case No. 69/PUU-XIX/2021 took place on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 in the plenary courtroom. Chief Justice Anwar Usman stated that the Court had received the withdrawal letter from the Petitioner.

On December 23, 2021, the Registrar’s Office received the withdrawal letter from the Petitioner. Then, on January 10, 2022, the Court examined the a quo petition through a panel preliminary hearing. However, the Petitioner did not answer the Court’s summons letter No. 484.69/PUU/PAN.MK/PS/12/2021 dated December 29, 2021. The Court had also received confirmation through WhatsApp text that the Petitioner would not attend the hearing because he wished to withdraw the petition.

The Court then deliberated at a justice meeting (RPH) on January 13, 2022 and decided that the withdrawal request was legally grounded.

“[The Court] grants the withdrawal of the Petitioner’s petition; Declares the petition No. 69/PUU-XIX/2021 on the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2021 on the Harmonization of Taxation Regulations against the 1945 Constitution withdrawn; Declares the Petitioner no able to re-file the a quo petition; Orders the Registrar’s Office to record the withdrawal of the petition No. 69/PUU-XIX/2021 in the electronic constitutional case registration book (e-BRPK) and return the petition’s copy to the Petitioner,” Justice Anwar said.

Also read: Petition on Law on Harmonization of Taxation Regulations Withdrawn

The Petitioner intended to challenged Law No. 7 of 2021 on the Harmonization of Taxation Regulations (HPP Law) formally. He believed that lawmaking provisions were not regulated in detail in the 1945 Constitution. Article 22A of the 1945 Constitution states that the lawmaking procedure is regulated in Law No. 12 of 2011, meaning that the Constitution delegates the constitutional lawmaking authority to said law. as such, all lawmaking procedure must be in line with Law No. 12 of 2011 without exception, including omnibus laws.

The Constitutional Court has issued a decision that grants a formal judicial review petition on the omnibus law, i.e. Decision No. 91/PUU-XVIII/2020. Since the decision was passed until the a quo petition was filed, Law No. 11 of 2020 on the provision of the lawmaking procedure of the omnibus law had not been revised. Referring to said Court decision, it must be interpreted that omnibus laws are allowed as long as they comply with provisions in Law No. 12 of 2011. This HPP Law is similar to Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation, which the Court ruled should be changed, as it is an omnibus law that violates the lawmaking procedure set in Law No. 12 of 2011.

With those arguments, the Petitioner asserted that the HPP Law was not created in compliance with the lawmaking procedure in the 1945 Constitution and Law No. 12 of 2011. Thus, in the petitum, he requested that the Court declare Law No. 7 of 2021 on the Harmonization of Taxation Regulations in violation of the lawmaking provisions and unconstitutional and, thus, not legally binding.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 01/19/2022 11:43 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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