Harun Reksodiputro
Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners
Law No. 11 of 2008 regarding electronic transactions and information (the ETI Law), which was enacted on April 21 2008, regulates all matters pertaining to information and transactions in all electronic forms. The ETI Law is the first law that regulates cyber activity in Indonesia. It provides a general outline, and requires further elaboration through government regulations.
The ETI Law applies to local and foreign legal subjects, and to all electronic transactions conducted inside or outside Indonesia that have a legal impact either in or outside the country that is detrimental to the national interest. Electronic transactions and electronic information have a cross-territorial character and are universal. Consequently, companies which do not have a business presence in Indonesia may also be subject to the ETI Law, if their business activities may affect Indonesia or Indonesian entities/ individuals.
The various subjects regulated by the ETI Law include the following.
Electronic information and electronic documents
The ETI Law defines electronic information as an item of electronic datum or a sequence of electronic data.
Electronic documents are defined as all electronic information that is produced, passed on, transferred, received or stored in analogue, digital, electromagnetic, optical or any other similar form that may be viewed, presented and/or heard through a computer or an electronic system.
Electronic information and electronic documents, including their printouts, can be considered valid legal evidence, unless the law requires such documents to be in writing.
Electronic signatures
An electronic signature is legally valid only if:
• The data that forms the electronic signature relates only to the signatory;
• It is fully within the signatory's ability to provide the data that forms the electronic signature;
• All changes made to the electronic signature after signing can be clearly identified;
• The electronic signature identifies and authenticates a particular person as the signatory;
• There is a method by which it is possible to confirm the signatory's approval of the data contained in the electronic signature.
Further government regulations will be issued under the ETI Law to regulate electronic signatures.
Electronic transactions
Under the ETI Law, electronic transactions may be conducted in good faith in public or in a private domain using an agreed electronic system: a sequence of equipment and electronic procedures that functions to prepare, collect, operate, analyze, store, present, announce, send and/or disseminate electronic information.
As a concept, an electronic transaction is basically any legal act carried out using a computer, a computer network and/or other electronic media. An electronic transaction carried out by the parties to an electronic contract binds the parties.
Further government regulations will be issued under the ETI Law to regulate electronic transactions.
Domain names
Any party, including the state, a legal entity, a legal person and the public, is entitled to own a domain name on a first to register basis. Domain names must be used in good faith and must neither violate the rights of others nor use unfair business competition principles.
Any party may request the cancellation of a domain name if it believes that the domain name negatively affects its rights. However, in the event of a dispute, the government is entitled to acquire the temporary operation of the domain name. A more specific government regulation is expected to be enacted to regulate this.
Data privacy
Any use of private or personal information through electronic media can only be carried out with the prior consent of the individuals concerned, unless the law stipulates otherwise.
Online content
Various guidelines on prohibited actions under the ETI Law impose boundaries on online content activities in relation to electronic information and/or electronic documents.
Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners
The Indonesia Stock Exchange Building,
Tower II, 21st Floor, Sudirman Central Business District
Jl. Jendral Sudirman Kav 52-53, Jakarta 12190, Indonesia
Website: www.hhp.co.id
E-mail: harun.reksodiputro@bakernet.com
Tel: +62 21 515 4885