Bappenas Proposes Two Strategies for Drafting the Civil Code

The Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (“PPN/Bappenas”) has proposed two main strategies for reforming the Civil Code. Based on the National Medium-Term Development Plan (“RPJMN”), Bappenas proposes strategies for codification and consolidation as efforts to simplify the Civil Code.

“In our RPJMN, there is a strategy for regulatory simplification that we have included as one of the options, whether codification or consolidation will ultimately be chosen,” said Hendra Wahanu Prabandani, Director of Legal Development, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections at the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas.

Hendra explained that the codification strategy aims to bring all regulations into a single unified system or a single code. Its advantages include greater legal certainty, minimization of inconsistencies between provisions, and ease for the public in navigating the regulations. However, codification is considered to have lower technical flexibility in adapting to rapid changes.

On the other hand, the consolidation strategy is being considered to address the current state of civil law, which is pragmatic and fragmented. Currently, various regulations, such as those governing marriage, agrarian matters, security interests, and bankruptcy, are scattered outside the Civil Code. Bappenas emphasizes that this strategic choice must ensure that future civil law is more easily understood by the public, drawing on the successful experience of legal reform in Japan