Data Protection in Indonesia

National data protection authority in Indonesia

Under the PDP Law, a separate institution / agency (the PDP Agency mentioned earlier) will be formed to specifically handle and undertake the organization of the protection of privacy / personal data, whom will be tasked, among others, to formulate policies / strategies, to supervise / monitor the implementation of the PDP Law, to enforce administrative sanctions for non-compliance with the PDP Law, and to facilitate non-court dispute settlements. A presidential regulation would be issued in respect to such a PDP Agency, while procedures to implement the authorities of the PDP Agency will be set out in a government regulation, both which as of writing are yet to be issued.

Until a PDP Agency is formed and operating, the Ministry of Communications and Informatics of the Republic of Indonesia (MOCI) (which is now known as the Minister of Communications and Digital or commonly referred to as "KOMDIGI") will largely still have the authority over data privacy matters that are processed through electronic systems in accordance to the General Data Protection Regulations.

However, it does not rule out the possible enforcement by:

  • other relevant sector’s regulatory authority (in the event the data controller / processor is subject to a regulated sector) which may also impose certain other administrative sanctions; for example, the FSA has the authority to act as the regulator of data privacy in the capital market sector (since 31 December 2012) and with regard to banks’ customer data privacy issues (since 31 December 2013); or
  • the law enforcement agency (prosecutor) if non-compliance involves a criminal offense, which may subject the accused to imprisonment and / or fines.
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