Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian Ministry of Micꦦro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is planning to form a task force to combat the sale oꦿf counterfeit goods and protect domestic small businesses.

This plan in response to a report about the Mangga Dua shopping centre in Jakarta being a hotspot for counterfeit or pirated products, MSMEs Minister Maman Abdurrahman told the press last week. The minister said that the report has prompted the Ministry of MSMEs to move toward the formation of a task force for the protection and empowerment of MSMEs in Indonesia, adding that the planned task force would be empowered to take action against those involved in the distribution and sale of counterfeit goods. According to the minister, his team has coordinated with other ministries and agencies to move the plan forward, while engaging various stakeholders in discussions to strengthen surveillance and protection efforts for Indonesian MSMEs. Furthermore, these efforts are also intended to guide domestic MSMEs to become prolific in producing high-quality products, he said. The minister also shared plans for his team to conduct a first-hand inspection of the goods in question. Previously, on March 31, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, which flagged the Mangga Dua market as being saturated with goods violating intellectual property rights. In the wake of the report, Indonesia's Industry Ministry on April 22, pledged to tighten controls on imports of such products. The ministry's spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif said that most counterfeit goods enter the country through standard imports or e-commerce platforms, often using bonded logistics centres. He informed that to solve the issue, the ministry plans to draft a regulation that will require importers and sellers of foreign goods to display brand certificates on their e-commerce pages./.