INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, the Government has again improved import governance through the issuance of Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 18 of 2026 concerning the Second Amendment to Permendag Number 16 of 2025 concerning Import Policy and Regulation.
The regulation, which came into effect on June 4, 2026, was disseminated to business actors, associations, surveyors, and related ministries and institutions in an online activity held by the Ministry of Trade on Monday (6/15).
The Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, Tommy Andana, asserted that the improvement of this regulation is designed to facilitate the flow of imported goods without neglecting aspects of supervision and compliance.
"Permendag Number 18 of 2026 refines import policies to ensure the smooth flow of goods, improve the effectiveness of licensing services, and improve the integration of electronic systems. All this is done while maintaining the aspects of supervision and compliance," said Tommy.
In the dissemination, the Director of Import of the Ministry of Trade, Andri Gilang Nugraha, explained that the rule change was the result of an evaluation of the implementation of the import policy that had been running.
This step is taken to improve the effectiveness of services, strengthen legal certainty, and improve supervision mechanisms.
Regulation of the Minister of Trade Number 18 of 2026 contains four main substances. First, the regulation regarding the issuance of Laporan Surveyor (LS) after the validity period of Persetujuan Impor (PI) expires.
This provision provides legal certainty for importers who have met substantive requirements, including the implementation of Verification or Penelusuran Teknis Impor (VPTI), but still face administrative constraints that cause LS not to be issued before PI ends.
Through the new arrangement, LS can still be issued after the validity period of PI ends if the goods have been technically verified and traced in the country of origin or country of loading, or have arrived at the destination port before the validity period of PI has expired and all the specified requirements have been met.
The second substance relates to the strengthening of data validation between the Import Approval number used in LS and the PI number included in the Pemberitahuan Impor Barang (PIB) document.
This policy is applied to address the still finding of data discrepancies between the two documents.
The Ministry of Trade emphasizes the research and validation mechanism so that the PI numbers used in LS and PIB remain consistent, easy to trace, and support data integrity and electronic system-based supervision.
The third change targets the compliance aspect of business actors through adjusting the sanctions provisions for importers who do not submit import realization reports.
The government considers that the report has an important role as the basis for the preparation, monitoring, and evaluation of national trade policies.
To strengthen compliance, the government added a mechanism for freezing Business Licensing in the field of Import or Certificate for the same commodity under certain conditions if the reporting obligation is not met by the importer.
Meanwhile, the fourth substance regulates the mechanism for resolving obstacles to the smooth flow of imported goods. This provision, which has been in effect since June 4, 2026, provides a basis for the government to respond more quickly to various conditions related to the national interest, the needs of the wider community, the implementation of government programs, and follow-up on Presidential directives.
With the improvement of these regulations, the government hopes to create a balance between the smoothness of import activities, improve the quality of licensing services, and strengthen the supervision and compliance of business actors.
