Setup Representative Office in Indonesia

Do you want to setup Representative Office in Indonesia ?
Do you want to setup Business Activities and a Company in Indonesia ?

We are the right person to hep you in setup representative office in Indonesia. For more information, please call 08999112502


Setting up Business Activities and a Company in Indonesia

To establish a business in Indonesia, if you do not require a local legal entity for the investment proposed, you could choose to appoint an Agent or Distributor, or set up a Representative Office. Many foreign investors at the early stage of entering the Indonesia market choose to set up an Agency Agreement or Representative Office, then later after the business starts to grow they will apply for a Foreign Direct Investment Company (FDI) status.

This is referred to most commonly in Indonesia by its Indonesian acronym PMA, or Penanaman Modal Asing.

Representative Office

A Representative Office can be established depending upon the line of business and the necessary licenses issued by the related government department. The limitation of a Representative Office is that they are not allowed to conduct direct sales and cannot issue Bills of Lading.

Representative offices are set up primarily for marketing, market research, or as buying or selling agents. The related government ministries are:

  • Representative Office from Ministry of Industry & Trade – for bilateral trade
  • Representative Office from Ministry of Public Work – for consultant or contractor
  • Representative Office from Ministry of Mining – for mining activities
  • Representative Office from Ministry of Finance – for banking
  • Representative Office from Investment Board (BKPM) – regional representative

To establish a Representative Office with permission from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the company’s head office needs to issue three letters:

  • Letter of Intent – stating the intention of the company to establish a representative office
  • Letter of Appointment – stating the appointment of the chief representative
  • Letter of Statement – stating that the Chief Representative will follow Indonesian regulations

The three letters must be stamped by a notary public and approved by the Indonesian Embassy in the home country of the firm. Upon approval, the Indonesian Embassy will issue a Letter of Notification (Surat Keterangan). Upon completion of the four letters the process can continue to the related government ministry in Jakarta, to incorporate a fixed license for 2 years.

Other ministries require different types of letters.

For more information, please call 08999112502

3 thoughts on “Setup Representative Office in Indonesia”

  1. Dear Mrs Laswati

    I am about to have a foreign company (accounting firm) run in Jakarta. I guess this should be categorized as a representative office. Can you please let me know:
    1. the total cost of this whole legal process including the cost of your service and
    2. what your services include.

    Thank you for your help.

  2. I would be appreciate if could kindly advise me for the following queries for setting up Representative Office (RO)in Indonesia (we have already complete the above requirements , now i just need to what is the procedure after we submit to the ministry):
    1. How long is the process to get the approval for RO from the related government ministry in Jakarta.
    2. Do the ministry will give a letter of approval or certificate to set representative office?
    3. What is the charges ?

    Appreciate if you could advise me accordingly.

    Many Thanks & Regards
    Eswary

  3. Hi Mrs. Laswati,

    I have plan to set up a rep office in JKT for skincare marketing.
    Pls advise the cost and the lead time to get it approve.

    Hope to hear from you.

    Best regards
    Victor Goh
    Director
    Victronics Asia Pte Ltd
    65-6246-4645

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