The President of the Republic of Indonesia has officially signed Act No. 13 of 2022 concerning the Second Amendment to Act No. 12 of 2011 concerning the Establishment of Legislations. The Act, signed on Thursday, June 16, 2022, regulates the formation of rules through the universal method or omnibus. This revision was published in response to the Decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) No. 91/PUU-XVIII/2020, which annulled the Job Creation Act due to formality as the omnibus law method was not regulated in the Indonesia Establishment of Regulations system.
Amendments are made by adding a new article and article paragraph, namely Article 42A and paragraph 1 points a and b of Article 64.
Article 42A of the Act No. 13 of 2022 states:
“The use of the omnibus method in the preparation of a Draft Legislation must be specified in the planning document.”
Further, Article 64, paragraph 1 a and b explains:
“(1a) The preparation of the Draft Legislation, as referred to in paragraph (1), may use the omnibus method.
(1b) The omnibus method, as referred to in paragraph (1a), is a method of preparing laws and regulations by:
a. addibg new content material;
b. changing the content material that has relevance and/or legal requirements regulated in various laws and regulations of the same type and hierarchy; and/or
c. revoking laws and regulations of the same type and hierarchy by combining them into one legislation to achieve specific goals.”
Aside from deciding that the establishment of Act No. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation does not meet the formal requirements of the establishment of laws, the Constitutional Court, in the Decision No. 91/PUU-XVIII/2020 Paragraph 5, orders the legislators to improve (of Act No. 11 of 2020) within a maximum period of 2 (two) years since the Decision is pronounced (November 25, 2021), and if within that time limit no corrections are made, as consequence Act No. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation becomes permanently unconstitutional.
Legislators (House of Representatives and Government) interpreted the Constitutional Court’s Decision as an order to revise the formal requirements for the formation of laws and regulations instead of amending the materiality of Law no. 11 of 2020 or revoking Law no. 11 of 2020, in particular the Employment Chapter.
Meanwhile, trade unions construe the Constitutional Decision as not merely covering a formality defect but also a materiality defect (thus, the Court orders a time-bound revision). Trade unions view the amendment effort as a formality justification for the omnibus law (method) to be regulated in the Indonesian legislative system. The main objective of the revision is that the contents of the Job Creation Act would remain effective without material content amended as per the Court order. Thus, trade union/s claimed that they would submit a formal and material judicial review of Act No. 13 of 2022 concerning the Second Amendment to Law Number 12 of 2011 concerning the Establishment of Legislations to the Constitutional Court.
What needs to be considered is whether the amendment contains the principle of non-retroactive. The right not to be prosecuted based on retroactive law is a human right that cannot be reduced under any circumstances, as stipulated in Article 28I paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution (“UUD 1945”). This principle is known as the non-retroactive principle, which prohibits the retroactive application of laws.
Number 155 of the Annex to Act No. 12 of 2011 states that the entry into force of laws and regulations cannot be determined earlier than the time when they are promulgated.
If there is a strong rationale for enacting laws and regulations earlier than when they were promulgated (retroactive), the following should be noted (number 156 of the Annex to Act No. 12 of 2011):
a. new provisions relating to criminal matters, whether their type, weight, nature, or classification, shall not be applied retroactively;
b. details regarding the effect of the retroactive provisions on legal actions, legal relations, and inevitable legal consequences that already exist are contained in the transitional provisions;
c. the beginning of the entry into force of the Laws and Regulations is determined not earlier than when the draft Laws and Regulations become known to the public, for example, when the draft Laws and Regulations are listed in Prolegnas, Prolegda, and other draft Laws and Regulations.
Perhaps non-recroactive principle would be one the subject matters that the Constitutional Court would consider further when conducting a judicial review of trade union submission in question. Until the Constitutional Court makes its Decision, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding employment law reform and its implementation. What is almost certain is that the Job Creation Act saga continues.
Indonesia Labour Database 