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Zantara AI
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Bali Zero handles visas, company setup, tax and property compliance in Indonesia. Ask us directly on WhatsApp.
Chat with Bali Zero on WhatsAppIn the high-stakes arena of foreign and domestic investment in Indonesia, a deep operational dissonance has emerged — one that has gone "viral" in Jakarta boardrooms and international legal consultancies. The gap between Indonesia's progressive regulatory framework (KBLI 2025) and the technical lethargy of the Online Single Submission (OSS) system has created a systemic risk that puts investors in legal limbo.
At the start of 2026, while BPS has mandated a sophisticated new vocabulary for business activities — spanning carbon capture to digital content creation — the digital infrastructure designed to process these activities remains rooted in obsolete parameters.
But buried within the regulatory overhaul of Government Regulation (PP) No. 28 of 2025 lies a potent, if double-edged, remedy: the Fiktif Positif (Fictitious Positive) mechanism. This legal doctrine equates administrative silence with consent — and it has been engineered into the OSS architecture as an automated safety valve.
The transition from KBLI 2020 to 2025, enacted through BPS Regulation No. 7 of 2025, restructures Indonesia's economic taxonomy through two methodological shifts:
Broad generic codes have been fractured into specific sub-codes to enable more precise risk-based licensing. Waste management codes, for example, were split to isolate Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) activities. For foreign investors (PT PMA), the specific KBLI code dictates their status on the Investment List and minimum capital requirements.
Fragmented codes with identical risk profiles have been merged to simplify bureaucratic burden for MSMEs, reducing the number of distinct permits required for integrated operations.
The result: over 1,562 five-digit codes now in force, with formal recognition of previously grey-area industries — from the creator economy to factoryless manufacturing.
The heart of the current crisis is a critical temporal misalignment. While BPS Regulation 7/2025 is legally effective since December 18, 2025, with a mandatory compliance deadline of June 2026, the OSS Risk-Based Approach (RBA) system remains calibrated to 2020 logic.
In the OSS RBA system, every KBLI code is bound to a specific risk level (Low, Medium-Low, Medium-High, High). This risk level dictates the licensing workflow — whether you need only a NIB, or verified Standard Certificates, or full Licenses.
The blockage occurs because, for new codes like 39001 (Carbon Capture), the implementing regulations from technical ministries (e.g., KLHK for environment) that define risk parameters haven't been finalized or integrated. The OSS "brain" doesn't know how to process a carbon capture application. It doesn't know whether to require a complex environmental impact assessment (AMDAL) or a simple capability statement.
This creates a paradoxical legal risk. Companies face a legal mandate that conflicts with technical reality:
Investors are forced to choose between:
For FDI, the risk is acute. The minimum capital requirement of IDR 10 billion per 5-digit KBLI code is strictly enforced. If a new KBLI 2025 code splits a previously permitted sector into two — one of which is restricted — the system lag could allow an investor to inadvertently register for a restricted activity, creating a time bomb for future audits.
Faced with bureaucracy that can't keep pace with its own ambitions, the Indonesian government has formalized a radical administrative solution: Fiktif Positif (Deemed Approval). Originally a concept in administrative law (UU Administrasi Pemerintahan), it was "weaponized" by the Job Creation Law (UU Cipta Kerja) and explicitly detailed in PP No. 28 of 2025.
In the OSS context, Fiktif Positif is an automated legal presumption: silence equals consent. This fundamentally inverts the traditional bureaucratic model.
Traditional model: The applicant waits indefinitely until the government affirmatively says "Yes."
Fiktif Positif model: The government has a strict deadline to say "No." If the deadline passes without rejection or a request for revision, the system acts on behalf of the government and says "Yes," automatically issuing the permit.
This is not abstract legal theory requiring a court order. It's a function coded into the OSS software. When the timer expires, the algorithm changes the application status from "Pending" to "Approved."
Under PP 28/2025 and BKPM Regulation No. 5/2025, the mechanism now covers critical bottleneck licenses:
| License | Description | SLA |
|---|---|---|
| KKPR | Spatial Activity Compliance (land use verification) | 20 working days |
| Persetujuan Lingkungan | Environmental Approval (AMDAL/UKL-UPL) | Varies by complexity |
| PBG | Building Permit | Varies |
| SLF | Occupancy Certificate | Varies |
| Pertek | Sector-specific Technical Approvals | Varies |
The license proof issued via Fiktif Positif carries the same legal validity as a manually signed decree.
The most prominent application concerns spatial planning (Tata Ruang). The KKPR is the guardian permit — without it, OSS blocks all subsequent licensing steps.
If 20 working days pass and ATR/BPN has neither approved nor rejected the Pertek, the OSS system interprets this silence as agreement. The system automatically generates the KKPR on the 21st day, allowing the investor to proceed immediately to Environmental Approvals.
This has been aggressively extended to high-risk sectors under PP 28/2025, including Energy (ESDM), Health, and Maritime Affairs. For Medium-High risk Standard Certificates, if the verifier "sleeps on" the verification request, the OSS status changes from "Awaiting Verification" to "Verified" automatically.
While Fiktif Positif appears to solve the OSS gap, it introduces a risk profile that may be more dangerous than the delay itself. The fundamental shift is from pre-license control to post-license audit.
The OSS system is an automaton, not an analyst. If an investor submits data that satisfies format requirements but is substantially flawed — for example, declaring a factory is in an industrial zone when it's actually in a green belt — the system may trigger Fiktif Positif if the government fails to detect the error within the SLA.
The investor receives a legally valid license, invests capital, builds infrastructure, and starts operations. But the blowback can be devastating.
Articles 244-245 of PP 28/2025 explicitly authorize the government to conduct post-license audits. If an audit reveals that the "Deemed Approval" was based on erroneous or falsified data, the license is revoked retroactively.
The "stamp of approval" no longer guarantees the government has vetted the project. It simply certifies that the government didn't object in time.
If the OSS system issues a permit via Fiktif Positif for a project that subsequently causes environmental damage, who bears liability? Current jurisprudence suggests the burden remains on the business. Standard Certificates issued via Fiktif Positif contain a disclaimer: "The business actor bears full responsibility for compliance of its activities with applicable standards."
This effectively indemnifies the government against its own system's automatic approvals.
An investor wanting to establish a CCS plant must use code 39001 under KBLI 2025. But OSS may only recognize old code 39000 (General Remediation). Registering under the wrong code misclassifies the project's risk level and could violate CCS-specific environmental standards tied to the new code.
A foreign digital agency producing podcasts and streaming content faces new Category J classification. OSS may still group these under generic "Information Services." The risk: different foreign ownership caps could trigger an Investment List violation.
If an FGP is erroneously classified as a mere distributor due to OSS update lag, it loses access to manufacturing tax incentives and faces higher import duties on components.
Do not leave this as an unresolved post-deadline issue. Identify your correct codes today and prepare the documentation.
If you rely on Fiktif Positif, ensure your spatial and environmental data is bulletproof. The "automatic" license will likely trigger a priority post-audit.
There is no formal "application for Fiktif Positif." It's a passive event — you watch the clock. But legal consultants advise documenting the SLA expiration with a notarial affidavit or formal letter to the Ministry of Investment, creating an evidentiary trail in case the automatic issuance fails due to a system glitch.
For Carbon Capture, Digital Creative, and FGP classifications, seek manual BKPM confirmation alongside your OSS submission. Ensure the risk mapping is recognized, even if the system is outdated.
The Fiktif Positif mechanism is a bold bet by the Indonesian state: that the efficiency of automation is worth the risk of missed initial oversight, provided the sword of post-audit revocation is sharp enough to discourage abuse.
For the investor, success lies in respecting the sword while walking through the open door. The government has traded pre-approval gatekeeping for post-license audit enforcement. Speed of approval is exchanged for long-term vulnerability.
Navigate accordingly.