Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul chairing the panel petition revision hearing of Law No. 7 of 2014 on Trade as amended by Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation, Monday (9/19/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Monday, September 19, 2022 | 15:38 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The petition revision hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2014 on Trade as amended by Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, September 19, 2022.

Legal counsel Eliadi Hulu conveyed the revisions to the petition. There was no change to the articles to review, while in the posita, the Petitioners reiterated their arguments that trading robots and e-books are goods.

Also read: e-Book and Trading Robot Suppliers Challenge Trade Law

The case No. 84/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by entrepreneurs Rizky Puguh Wibowo, Zainal Hudha Purnama, and Minggus Umboh. They challenge Article 1 point 5 and the Elucidation to Article 9 of the Job Creation Law.

Article 1 point 5 of the Job Creation Law reads, “Goods shall be any object, either tangible and intangible, movable or immovable, consumable or inexhaustible, that can be traded, used, operated, or utilized by consumers or business actors.” Meanwhile, Elucidation to Article 9 reads, “The ‘pyramid scheme’ shall be the term/name of business activity that is not the result of the sale of goods. Such a business activity takes advantage of opportunities of the participation of business partners to obtain rewards or income, especially from the participation fees of other people who join later or after the business partners join.”

The Petitioners had been declared suspects and undergone a trial on August 1, 2022, where the public prosecutor read out their indictment. The Petitioners were indicted for violating Article 105 of the Trade Law by running a business not from the sale of goods. The question was whether trading robots and e-books are not goods as defined in Article 1 point 5 of the Trade Law. Therefore, according to the public prosecutor, that the Petitioners’ act met the element of ‘business activity that is not the result of the sale of goods.’

Meanwhile, the Petitioners believe trading robots and e-books are goods as there was an account for the purchase transaction, which contained the identity of the members and the means of trading. E-book ownership, they argued, can also be traced through the payment access code. They compared the ownership of trading robots to that of Instagram, Tiktok, dan Facebook accounts, which can be traded for the number of followers.

As founders and owners of PT Trust Global Karya, which since 2020 has been producing educational e-books and software that function as trading robots, and have obtained trade permit. The Petitioners’ business, which relates to tech development, help the public make an analysis before investing. Trading robots, Eliadi said, have great potential in the development of AI (artificial intelligence). This is in line with the Government’s program to promote the use of technology and digitization. Trading robots are considered futures trading advisors by many.

Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 1 point 5 of the Job Creation Law, as amended by the Job Creation Law unconstitutional and the article not legally binding as long as not interpreted as “Goods shall be any object, either tangible and intangible, movable or immovable, consumable or inexhaustible, that can be traded, used, operated, or utilized by consumers or business actors, including software.”

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/21/2022 14:53 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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