Govt intensifies efforts to protect electronics buyers

Govt intensifies efforts to protect electronics buyers

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Starting July, the government would penalize stores that sell
electronic products which do not carry guarantee cards and
instruction manuals in the Indonesian language, a senior
governmental official said Monday.

Director for the supervision of trade goods and services at
the Ministry of Industry and Trade Budi Darmadi said the move was
part of the government's effort to protect consumers in line with
Consumer Protection Law No. 8/1999.

As part of the implementation of the law, the ministry issued
a decree last July obligating 17 electronic items, including
radio cassette players, VCD/DVD players, televisions, printers,
refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and cell
phones, to carry guarantee cards and manuals in Indonesian.

"The punishment ranges from the revocation of the stores'
licenses to the imprisonment of the owners," Budi said during a a
visit to the ITC Roxi Mas shopping center in Central Jakarta.

Budi visited the shopping center as part of the ministry's
public campaigns to disseminate information about the regulation.

He said he believed that the electronic goods which were sold
without guarantee cards and Indonesian-language manuals had been
illegally imported into the country.

"For the time being, we can tolerate traders who sell
electronics without guarantee cards and instruction manuals in
Indonesian.

"However, after July, we will take tough measures against
those who sell goods without these items," he warned traders who
attended the meeting at ITC Roxi Mas.

Budi said the regulation also aimed at curbing the rampant
smuggling of electronic goods into the country.

The Indonesian Electronics Association (Gabel) has said that
50 percent of imported electronics sold on the local market had
been imported illegally.

The association has often voiced concerns over the illegally
imported products, saying they badly hurt the sales of locally-
made products.

Many consumers prefer buying illegally imported electronics
because they are much cheaper than legally imported ones, while
the availability of guarantee cards or any manuals did not really
matter to them.

According to chairman of the cell phone vendors association
(APTEG) Muhardi Noor, a legally imported Nokia communicator was
offered at Rp 6.3 million, while the illegal one was priced about
Rp 800,000 cheaper.

"Cell phones of more market-friendly series, like the 3-series
of Nokia, have about a Rp 300,000 difference between the legal
and illegal ones," he said.

"In such a case, we vendors do not manipulate anything. We
always tell our buyers whether the items are illegal or not. The
transactions are all legal as long as the consumers agree to buy
such products, right?" said Muhardi.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, sales of
electronics in Indonesia are estimated to reach about Rp 20
trillion (US$2.22 billion) in 2003 and Rp 29 trillion in 2005.

Chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Indah
Suksmaningsih welcomed the government's move, saying the use of
the Indonesian language in guarantee cards and manuals was
important for consumers to understand their rights.

"They have the right to understand what they will get from a
product, like a limited guarantee or any after-sales service, and
the use of Indonesian will make it easier," Indah told The
Jakarta Post.

She also explained that Indonesian consumers should start to
realize that a cheap price was not everything.

"Buying legal products means supporting the domestic industry
which employs thousands of people. If people do not buy legal
products, the industry will be affected and thousands of people
will become unemployed," she said.

"Unemployment will later become a social threat. It is
possible that the unemployed will resort to stealing and other
crimes some day, only because of the sales of illegal items," she
said.