Opinions Opinion

Standard Agreements in Indonesia

Adam Ilyas

Founder

07 Mar 2023 · 06:07 07 March 2023 06:07 WIB 8 minutes reading time: 8 minutes 6 read

Comments

Learn about the problems of standard agreements and their solutions.

CONTRIBUTOR PROGRAM

You can become a columnist at Legal Literacy.

Submit your legal opinion/analysis writing. If it is published, you have the opportunity to obtain a payout/honorarium in accordance with the provisions.

Submit Article Read Guidelines

Table of Contents

Understanding Standard Agreements and Standard Clauses
Problems and Solutions in the Use of Standard Agreements
Closing
References

Section 2/3: Problems and Solutions in the Use of Standard Agreements

At this time there are a number of laws and regulations that directly or indirectly regulate standard agreements, namely as follows:

Civil Code Civil Law (KUHPer)
Law No. 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection (UUPK)
PP No. 80 of 2019 concerning Trading Through Electronic Systems (PP PMSE)
Regulation Financial Services Authority No. 1/POJK.07/2013 concerning Consumer Protection in the Financial Services Sector and Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 16/1/PBI/2014 concerning Consumer Protection for Payment System Services

Problems and Solutions in the Use of Standard Agreements

Currently the use of standard agreements in Indonesia has expanded starting from simple standard agreements, such as purchase orders or notes that include the standard clause 'goods that have been purchased cannot be exchanged or returned' to very complex health insurance standard agreements that use terms or phrases that are not easily understood by the insured as consumers. The most frequent case is the increase in costs that must be borne by bank customers. Consumers cannot do anything because in the agreement that has been made, for example for home loans, there is a clause that states that consumers must pay 'increases in costs that occur in the future'.

The burden of proving the element of error is transferred from the consumer as the plaintiff to the business actor as the defendant. In this case, the business actor must prove that he is not guilty, as regulated in Article 28 of the UUPK. This is contrary to Article 1865 of the Civil Code where the plaintiff (consumer) who alleges the defendant's (business actor) error has the burden of proving the defendant's error.

In the event that a service consumer sues a service provider based on unlawful acts, the UUPK, which does not distinguish between goods and services due to haste at the time of preparation, the lawsuit is also based on strict liability. The confusion and absence of explicit regulation regarding standard agreements in the service sector clearly creates weaknesses in the regulation of standard agreements in the service sector in the UUPK.

There is a standard clause prohibited under Article 18 paragraph (1) of the Consumer Protection Act because it contains an exoneration clause and a standard clause that is not included in the prohibition of Article 18 paragraph (1) of the Consumer Protection Act but is a standard clause that contains an exoneration clause. The use of standard clauses is found in many business fields, both goods and/or services, including telephone/internet services; bank credit; insurance; transportation services; parking services; financing; expedition/logistics; housing; accommodation; health services; and so on.