TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of Communication and Digital, Meutya Viada Hafid, has spoken out about the transfer of personal data in the Reciprocal Trade Agreement between the United States and Indonesia. According to her, the transfer of data does not involve the free handover of personal data, but rather serves as a legally measured basis in the cross-border data governance.
Meutya stated that the trade commitment between the two countries is still in the finalization stage, and technical discussions will continue. She said, "The government ensures that data transfer to the United States is not done arbitrarily," in a written statement on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
The Golkar Party politician stated that the transfer or movement of personal data across borders is permitted as long as it has legitimate, limited, and legally justifiable interests. For example, Meutya mentioned activities involving data transfer when using search engines like Google and Bing.
In the context of this trade agreement, she believes that the data transfer agreement can serve as a legal basis for protecting the personal data of Indonesian citizens when using digital services provided by U.S.-based companies. "The entire process is conducted within the framework of secure and reliable data governance, without sacrificing the rights of citizens," Meutya said.
Regarding the transfer of personal data of Indonesian citizens to the United States, a joint statement was released on the official U.S. government website on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, local time.
The document contains 12 main points. One of the points mentioned is that Indonesia is committed to removing barriers that impact digital trade, services, and investment. "Indonesia will provide certainty regarding the ability to transfer personal data out of its territory to the United States," as written in the official document on the White House website.
The agreement also includes Indonesia's commitment to eliminate tariffs in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) for intangible products and suspend import declaration requirements. The U.S. government is taking this step to support the immediate and unconditional implementation of a permanent moratorium on electronic transmission import duties within the World Trade Organization (WTO).
HTS is a classification system for imported goods used by the U.S. to determine tariffs and collect trade statistics. Each imported item is given a unique HTS code as the basis for tariff calculations and quotas.
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