Ministry pushes shopping center certification to draw investment

Director of investigation and dispute resolution at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) of the Law and Human Rights Ministry (Kemenkumham), Anom Wibowo.

Newstoday Jakarta - The Law and Human Rights Ministry is encouraging intellectual property-based shopping center certification to improve investor confidence to invest in Indonesia, according to the ministry's Directorate General of Intellectual Property.   

So far, the ministry has certified 17 shopping centers and verified 77 submitted documents required for certification, director of investigation and dispute resolution at the directorate general, Anom Wibowo, informed here on Thursday.

The shopping center certification is part of Indonesia's efforts to be removed from the priority watch list (PWL) -- a list of countries that are considered by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) to have serious intellectual property violations.

In addition to increasing the trust of foreign investors, the issuance of certification, at the direction of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), is expected to open as many investment opportunities as possible so that all countries can invest in Indonesia, the director noted.

Hence, the opening of the investment opportunities must also be supported by strict intellectual property law enforcement, he added.

To be eligible for certification, shopping centers must sell goods that have been listed in the data system of the directorate general, whether they are still in the application stage or have been registered, he informed.

Furthermore, the goods must not violate intellectual property.

“At least 70 percent of the merchants in the shopping centers must sell original goods (not fake ones),” Wibowo said.

The intellectual property-based shopping center certification program has been designated as a priority program of the directorate general for 2023 so that Indonesia can be removed from the PWL, he explained.

In the future, the certification will not only target modern shopping centers, but also traditional markets by adopting a humanist approach, for instance, by carrying out training and dissemination regarding intellectual property, he added.

The certification is expected to be expanded to various industrial centers in districts and cities, he said.