KBLI 2025 and the Lesson on Business Compliance

The update to the Indonesia Standard Industrial Classification (KBLI) 2025 serves as an interesting example of how a seemingly simple change can spark new awareness about the importance of administrative compliance as an inseparable part of business sustainability. Since the implementation of KBLI 2025 through the Online Single Submission (OSS) system on 18 June 2026, many business actors assumed the process would merely involve replacing their business activity codes to match the latest classification. The logic was straightforward: if the business sector is already appropriate, updating the data should proceed without obstacles. However, the reality on the ground has shown a different situation. Many companies found their applications held up or rejected by the system. These obstacles were not solely due to errors in selecting the business code, but rather because other administrative obligations had not been fulfilled. When a company attempted to update its KBLI, the system simultaneously checked whether the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (RUPS) report had been submitted and whether the beneficial ownership data had been updated. This serves as a critical lesson that the system no longer reads a single piece of data in isolation, but views the company as a unified legal identity. Many business actors only realised that annual reports had never been filed since the company’s establishment, or that beneficial ownership data had not been updated following changes in share ownership or corporate control structures. This situation indicates that many companies still treat legal aspects merely as administrative formalities, rather than as the foundation of their business.