Indonesian Government Plans To Promote Unified Packaging For Tobacco And E-cigarettes; Legal Experts Warn That It May Violate The Constitution And Infringe Copyright

Indonesian government plans to promote unified packaging for tobacco and e-cigarettes; legal experts warn that it may violate the constitution and infringe copyright

The Indonesian government plans to ban the use of brand logos on tobacco and e-cigarette product packaging, and legal experts warn that the unified packaging standardization policy has triggered constitutional and intellectual property disputes.

According to Tribun News on September 9, the Indonesian government plans to ban the use of brand logos and trademarks on tobacco and e-cigarette products.

The ban is included in the Draft Regulation of the Ministry of Health (RPMK), which is a derivative of the Government Decree No. 28 of 2024 and the Health Law No. 17 of 2023, which aims to unify the packaging of tobacco and e-cigarette products.

Ali Ridho, a legal expert at Universitas Trisakti, pointed out that this policy may lead to potential violations in terms of the constitution and intellectual property rights (HAKI).

Ridho explained that the background of the introduction of this regulation is the Health Law No. 17 of 2023. However, although the Government Decree No. 28 of 2024 covers tobacco and e-cigarette products, it does not explicitly require packaging standardization regulations as stated in the RPMK.

Ridho believes that these regulations are inconsistent with the court's ruling. In addition, he also pointed out that this may infringe intellectual property rights.

"Government Decree No. 28 of 2024 indirectly violates intellectual property rights and does not seem relevant from a constitutional perspective," Reed said at a discussion in Jakarta.

From a constitutional perspective, the policy is considered not to follow established legal rules. When formulating regulations, he stressed the need to pay attention to the overall consistency between policy implementation and court rulings.

In addition, Reed also pointed out that uniform packaging may also infringe on consumer rights.