Formulation of Technical Standards for REEs to Serve as the Basis for the Revision of Permendag 6/2026

The Government has begun preparing the revision of Regulation of the Minister of Trade No. 6 of 2026 on the Fourth Amendment to Regulation of the Minister of Trade No. 22 of 2023 on Goods Prohibited from Being Exported (collectively referred to as "Permendag 22/2023"), as an instrument to establish a governance framework for the export of products containing Rare Earth Elements ("REEs").

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso stated that the revision would be carried out after the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral – "ESDM") completes its study on the permissible REE content threshold for exports. "The permissible export threshold is still being studied, and we will wait for the results of the study by ESDM," Budi said.

Prior to revising the regulation, the Ministry of Trade ("Kemendag"), together with the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, tekMIRA, Ministry of ESDM, and mineral surveyors, agreed on the need for uniform technical standards as the basis for the export policy. The discussion covers not only the determination of REE content thresholds, but also the classification of mineral products, testing methods, and the parameters used to determine the treatment of products containing REE-associated minerals.

The study is being conducted because the current regulatory framework is considered to lack legal certainty. Regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources No. 25 of 2018 on Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities ("PermenESDM 25/2018"), which is currently under evaluation, does not explicitly regulate REE-associated minerals, the list of commodities subject to mandatory testing, standardized testing methods, or provisions concerning follow-up measures based on test results. 

As a follow-up, the Government is preparing an inventory of commodities that may contain REEs, developing standardized testing methods and reference laboratories, and establishing categories of products that may or may not be exported based on REE content thresholds. This framework will subsequently serve as the technical basis for revising Permendag 6/2026 while aligning the export policy with the national mineral downstreaming agenda.