Constitutional Justices M. Guntur Hamzah, Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, and Asrul Sani at the judicial review hearing of the Consumer Protection Law, Thursday (11/28/2024). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Several private employees have filed a material judicial review petition of Article 35 paragraph (3) of Law No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection on Thursday, November 28, 2024. Happy Kusuma, Thomas A. Harnomo Trisno, Siswanto, Johannes Paramban, Jemmy Gunawan (Petitioners I-V) are petitioners of case No. 162/PUU-XXII/2024. Through legal counsel Mahendra Suhartono, they argued that the a quo article is against Article 28D paragraph (1) and Article 28I paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution.

Article 35 paragraph (3) of the Consumer Protection Law reads, “The chairman, vice chairman, and members of the National Consumer Protection Agency shall hold office for 3 (three) years and may be reappointed for one more term.” The Petitioners had observed that there are 12 commissions or non-ministerial state agencies aside from the National Consumer Protection Agency (BPKN)—such as the Judicial Commission, the Human Rights Commission, and the Ombudsman—with a five-year term of office.

Specifically and actually, Mahendra continued, the article’s enforcement has caused the Petitioners, who both own an apartment unit and are looking for alternative solutions to problems through the BPKN, to worry that they would not get a guarantee of legal protection and fair legal certainty. They argued that the BPKN members’ short terms of office has led to inadequate performance, duties, functions, and/or responsibilities.

“It is feared that complaints that have been or will be received by the BPKN will be neglected and not resolved completely due to the short terms of office of the BPKN chairman, vice chairman, and members. It will even lead to legal uncertainty over complaints received from the public or legal subjects that require the Government’s consumer protection through the BPKN,” Mahendra explained online before Constitutional Justices M. Guntur Hamzah (panel chair), Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, and Arsul Sani.

For this reason, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 35 paragraph (3) of the Consumer Protection Law conditionally unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as, “The chairman, vice chairman, and members of the National Consumer Protection Agency shall hold office for 5 (five) years and may be reappointed for one more term.”

Justices’ Advice

In response, Justice Arsul advised the Petitioners to observe Article 10 paragraph (2) of the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 2 of 2021 to guide them in preparing the petition. For example, the petition comprises in the order of the Court’s authority, constitutional impairment, reasons for the petition (posita), and petitums (requests).

“With such format, what is argued by the Petitioners will be clear. Moreover, in this petition, what must be described is the potential and factual constitutional impairment experienced due to the enforcement of this article. So, clarify and build argumentative arguments because this is related to the terms of office of the leadership of the National Consumer Protection Agency,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Justice Foekh recommended that the Petitioners perfect the posita, especially relating to the five-year term requested in the petitum. Next, Justice Guntur advised them to clarify their legal standing.

“The current argument is not strong enough, for example the regeneration of the consumer protection agency’s leadership. There is concern, but [already] requesting for the change of norm. Please explain the correlation,” he said.

At the end of the session, Justice Guntur announced that that the Petitioners would have 14 days to revise the petition and submit it by Wednesday, December 11, 2024 to the Registrar’s Office. The Court will then schedule another hearing to examine the petition’s revisions.

Author         : Sri Pujianti
Editor          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator     : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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