Overview

2018 has been one of the best years for any businesses which are looking to commence operations in Indonesia, as the government has continued to implement new policies designed to bolster Indonesia’s overall rate of investment, as well as its ease-of-doing-business index, including policies on tax holidays, post-border inspection schemes for imported products, oil-and-gas regulatory reform, the simplification of foreign worker recruitment and so forth.

However, the main headline of 2018 was undoubtedly the implementation of the Online Single Submission (“OSS”) system, which has revolutionized licensing procedures in Indonesia. Unfortunately, however, although well-intentioned, the implementation of the OSS system is still being hampered by various issues which must be rapidly resolved in order to fully maximize the system’s full potential.