INDONESIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Nico Angelo Putra Mooduto, Mahareksha Singh Dillon, Talitha Amanda Ekadhani and Bagas Ananta, SSEK Law Firm
the enforcement application. These assets are then seized and sold at a public auction. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country In Indonesia, foreign judgments are not directly enforceable due to the absence of international con- ventions to which Indonesia is a party. Consequently, a party seeking to enforce a foreign judgment must initiate a new claim in the district court. During this process, the foreign judgment can be presented as evidence. However, Indonesian courts are not bound by foreign judgments and may independently assess their merits. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation The general civil claim procedure in Indonesia pro- gresses through three stages: • initial fact examination at the district court; • appellate review at the high court; and • cassation at the Supreme Court. Thereafter, parties may seek extraordinary remedies, such as a judicial review by the Supreme Court based on limited grounds. Appeals must be lodged within 14 days following the reading or notification of the district court’s decision. Failure to appeal within this timeframe renders the decision final and binding. Appeals to the high courts typically take six months or more. Subsequent cassation to the Supreme Court must be filed within 14 days of the high court’s ruling being notified to the party. The duration of Supreme Court appeals can vary, generally extending to at least 12 months. Furthermore, a final and binding judgment may be contested through a judicial review at the Supreme Court under specific conditions. These conditions include judgments tainted by fraud or forgery; dis- covery of significant new evidence; judicial overreach;
inadequate legal rationale; contradictions with prior judgments on the same issue; or evident legal or fac- tual errors. Since the implementation of e-Court, all appeal and cassation submissions are required to be filed through the e-Court system. This has streamlined the filing process but has not significantly shortened the time- frames. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments Parties in civil cases have the right to appeal a district court judgment to the relevant high court if they are dissatisfied with the decision, which includes deci- sions on both substantive and procedural matters. Both the plaintiff and the defendant have the right to appeal a judgment. An appeal may be based on arguments such as: • errors in the application or interpretation of the law by the lower court; • new evidence that could significantly affect the outcome of the case and was not available or dis- coverable at the time of the original trial; and • procedural errors or violations of judicial processes that could have affected the fairness of the trial. Appellate courts will review the entire reasoning of the lower court. However, they are limited to the eviden- tiary record established at first instance, except where new evidence falls within the exceptional grounds rec- ognised by law. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal A notice of appeal must be filed within 14 days of the judgment being issued. This notice is filed with the court that issued the initial judgment, which will then forward the case to the appropriate high court for review. Upon receiving the appeal, the high court will review the records and arguments from the district court trial. The high court does not typically re-examine witness- es or review new evidence unless exceptional circum- stances apply. Instead, it evaluates whether the lower court’s judgment was legally and procedurally sound.
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