Jakarta (2/11) - Indonesia Competition Commission (ICC) held a meeting with the Judicial Commission (KY) of the Republic of Indonesia at the KY Building in Jakarta yesterday to discuss various behaviors of judges found by ICC in several objection handling processes in courts. This is in line with one of the duties of the Judicial Commission in monitoring and supervising the behavior of judges as well as handling the alleged breaches of the code of ethics and the code of conduct conducted by judges. ICC represented by the Vice Chairman of ICC Guntur S. Saragih and several officials of the ICC Secretariat was received directly by the Chief of the Judicial Commission Prof. Mukti Fajar Nur Dewata and Vice Chief of the Judicial Commission M. Taufiq HZ along with the rank and file within Judicial Commission in the meeting.

As is known, every Decision of ICC for competition cases can be subject to objection through Commercial Courts, in line with Regulation of the Supreme Court No. 3 of 2021 (Perma 3/2021). The Supreme Court Regulation applies only to Decisions of ICC related to the implementation of Law No. 5/1999 regarding the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition. In its implementation, ICC found several actions alleged to be contradictory to one of the principles in the code of ethics and the code of conduct of judges, namely taking a professional attitude, such as handling the remedy in the form of objections outside the legal domicile of Reported Parties, handling the remedy in the form of objections the procedures of which are not provided for by laws and regulations, as well as other behaviors found by ICC in its litigation proceedings.

The said meeting specifically played a part in discussing the handling of the remedy in the form of objections to Decisions of ICC by one of the Commercial Courts for a micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) partnership case. The handling of the objections was deemed inappropriate, because there are no laws and regulations providing for the existence of the remedy in the form of objections to decisions of ICC for MSME partnership cases. Therefore, on the basis of Regulation of ICC No. 4/2019, Decisions of ICC for partnership cases are final in nature. The behavior of judges who decided the objection to the said case without any legal grounds was alleged to be not in accordance with the behavior of judges to act in a professional fashion. For that reason, the said meeting was held to discuss the potential or the alleged breach of the code of ethics and the code of conduct of judges to the Judicial Commission and simultaneously request the Judicial Commission  to monitor and oversee the behavior of judges.