Regulatory Gaps in Buy Now Pay Later Consumer Protection

Tri Herdianto, Dewi Sulistianingsih, Pujiono Pujiono

Abstract


The rapid development of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services in Indonesia has created new challenges for consumer protection in the digital financial ecosystem. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of regulatory oversight of BNPL services and to examine the reconstruction of providers' legal responsibilities in protecting consumers from potential losses. This study uses a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, and analytical approaches by examining regulations, legal doctrine, and contemporary fintech legal issues. The novelty of this study lies in the integration of consumer protection principles with risk-based financial supervision in evaluating BNPL regulations, particularly in identifying structural gaps between regulatory compliance and substantive legal protection. This study finds that existing BNPL regulations do not fully provide effective consumer protection due to the dominance of a compliance-based supervisory approach, weak accountability mechanisms, and the absence of a clear compensation framework for consumer losses. Furthermore, the use of standard digital agreements tends to create an imbalance between providers and consumers. This study concludes that the BNPL problem in Indonesia is a structural legal issue that requires regulatory reconstruction through adaptive risk-based supervision, clearer allocation of responsibilities, operational compensation mechanisms, and stronger integration between financial services law, consumer protection law, and personal data protection regulations.


Keywords


Consumer; Digital; Liability; Paylater; Regulation.

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30659/ldj.8.2.364-382

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