Overview  

Recently, a considerable number of consumer disputes have arisen within the financial-services sector, particularly in regard to peer-to-peer lending, an area which has suffered from harsh debt-collection methods and personal data breaches.[1] In addition, the e-commerce industry has also had to deal with a relatively high number of consumer disputes, which encompass both fraud and breaches of contract.

For the last 20 years, Indonesia has had a legal consumer protection framework in place, which was originally set out under Law No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection (“Consumer Protection Law”). Theoretically, this framework offers adequate protection for consumers by entitling them to file lawsuits if they sustain damages or losses during transactions. However, since the judicial mechanisms available under the Consumer Protection Law framework are generally considered to be too slow and costly, many consumers are increasingly choosing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.