02 August 2024
Christoffel Daniel Yesaya Tambunan
FH-USU PR : On Wednesday (24/07/2024), the PKM International Service Team of Faculty of Law, Universitas Sumatera Utara (FH USU), in collaboration with the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and the Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU) Regional Office 1, held an international community service activity (PKM) with the title “Competition Law Approach to Digital Economy Development: Sharing Experience in Indonesia and Australia”. The activity was held using a hybrid method in FH USU's Faculty Advisory Council (DPF) room.
This international collaborative PKM activity presented speakers, namely Prof. Deborah Jane Healey from the School of Private and Commercial Law UNSW, Sydney - Australia, who attended online, Ridho Pamungkas, S.IP as Head of Regional Office 1 KPPU, and Professor of Faculty of Law USU, Prof. Ningrum Natasya Sirait. The activity was moderated by Dr. Robert, S.H., M.H. Participants were business actors who are members of the Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association of North Sumatra, the North Sumatra MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise) Association, the DPP IKM UMK Nusantara, business owners in the digital economy sector in Medan City, the North Sumatra Cooperative and MSME Office, the North Sumatra Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), and also lecturers and students of Undergraduate, Master and Doctoral Study Programs from Faculty of Law USU.
This activity addresses issues related to technological developments that have brought a number of changes in mankind's lives. One of the significant changes is in the trade sector. Trading activities through digital platforms are unavoidable. The increased transaction volume through digital platforms has also created a new issue: a healthy business competition climate.
The speakers in this activity were Prof. Deborah Jane Healey from the School of Private and Commercial Law UNSW, Sydney - Australia who attended online, Ridho Pamungkas, S.IP as Head of Regional Office 1 KPPU, and Professor of the Faculty of Law USU, Prof. Ningrum Natasya Sirait. The activity was moderated by Dr. Robert, S.H., M.H. Participants were business actors who are members of the North Sumatra Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association, North Sumatra MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise) Association, DPP IKM UMK Nusantara, business actors in the digital economy sector in Medan City, North Sumatra Cooperative and MSME Office, North Sumatra Kadin, as well as lecturers and students of Undergraduate, Master and Doctoral Study Programs from the Faculty of Law USU.
In his remarks, the Dean of the Faculty of Law USU, Dr. Mahmul Siregar, S.H., M.Hum stated the limited knowledge of digital economy business owners regarding competition law. Therefore, the Dean hopes that this activity can provide new insights for business owners in the digital economy in overcoming the obstacles and challenges of supervising business competition in the digital economy in Indonesia and provide a discourse on how Indonesia can learn from Australia regarding competition supervision in the digital economy sector.
The discussion began with a presentation from Prof. Ningrum, which essentially emphasized the importance of the government's presence in monitoring business competition in the digital economy sector. The government should play an active role in accommodating the interests of all stakeholders in the digital economy. Furthermore, Prof. Deborah Healey stated that Australia also faces the same problems and challenges as Indonesia regarding supervising business competition in the digital platform. Australia, through the ACCC (The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), has conducted research funded by the Australian government. It has provided several recommendations for amendments to the competition law in Australia to address this issue.
The head of Regional Office I of KPPU Medan, Ridho Pamungkas, stated that MSME players must be digitally literate. Ridho Pamungkas emphasized the importance of utilizing and mastering digitalization for MSME players. The discussion then continued with a question and answer session from various participants.
In the closing session, Prof. Ningrum emphasized that business owners’ behavior changes cannot be equated with an admission of guilt from a competition law perspective. The Indonesian government should wisely address this issue by providing legal certainty related to competition supervision rules in the digital economy sector, such as in Australia. Thus, public welfare in general and consumer welfare in particular by the objectives of competition law can be achieved.
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