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Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan 5/2021Regulation
Full titlePeraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 5 Tahun 2021 tentang Tata Cara Penerbitan Persetujuan Teknis dan Surat Kelayakan Operasional Bidang Pengendalian Pencemaran Lingkungan
CitationPermen LHK 5/2021
JurisdictionIndonesia
Enacted byMinister of Environment and Forestry
Signed1 April 2021
Promulgated1 April 2021
Effective1 April 2021
ImplementsPP 22/2021
ReplacesPermen LH 12/2006; Permen LH 13/2007; Permen LHK P.102/2018; Kepmen LH 28/2003 and 29/2003; Lampiran V of Permen LH 1/2010

Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan 5/2021 (Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 5 Tahun 2021 tentang Tata Cara Penerbitan Persetujuan Teknis dan Surat Kelayakan Operasional Bidang Pengendalian Pencemaran Lingkungan) is an Indonesian ministerial regulation on the procedure for issuing technical approvals (Persetujuan Teknis) and operational worthiness letters (Surat Kelayakan Operasional, SLO) in the field of pollution control. It was signed by the Minister of Environment and Forestry and promulgated on 1 April 2021, taking effect on the same day.[1] It implements three provisions of Peraturan Pemerintah 22/2021 on environmental protection and management.[2]

The regulation applies to two activities: the discharge or use of wastewater, and the discharge of emissions.[3] For wastewater it is the procedural counterpart of the effluent standards described at wastewater and sanitation regulation in Indonesia: an activity that must prepare an environmental impact assessment (Amdal) or an UKL-UPL and that discharges or uses wastewater must hold both a technical approval and an SLO.[4] The technical approval is a condition for, and becomes part of, the environmental approval and the business licence; the SLO is the basis for starting operations and for supervising compliance.[5][6]

The regulation replaced the earlier wastewater discharge permit procedures, including those for discharge to the sea and for injection in upstream oil, gas and geothermal activities, and gave holders of existing permits two years to bring their environmental approvals into line.[7][8] CRPG's regulatory tracker published two analyses of it on 26 November 2025.[9][10]

Background

Before 2021 the discharge or use of wastewater required a wastewater discharge or use permit (perizinan pembuangan dan/atau pemanfaatan air limbah), whose procedures were spread over several ministerial instruments that the regulation later revoked.[8:1][7:1] Permen LHK 5/2021 was issued to implement Pasal 162 huruf b, Pasal 219 huruf e and Pasal 271 huruf g of PP 22/2021.[2:1] Pasal 1 defines a technical approval as an approval from central or regional government setting environmental protection and management standards or a traffic-impact analysis for an activity, and an SLO as a letter stating that an activity meets those standards.[11]

Wastewater discharge and use

Pasal 3 lists five regulated activities: discharge to surface water bodies, discharge to certain geological formations, use of wastewater in certain formations, land application of wastewater, and discharge to the sea.[4:1] Each requires a technical approval and an SLO.[4:2]

Technical approval

To obtain a technical approval, the person responsible for the activity first carries out a self-screening (Penapisan Secara Mandiri) to determine whether the application must be supported by a technical study (kajian teknis) or by a document showing compliance with a technical standard set by the government, which may be an effluent quality standard or a technology standard. Where no government standard yet exists, a technical study is required.[12] A technical study covers a description of the activity, the baseline environment, predicted impacts, the environmental management plan including the treatment or injection system, the monitoring plan and the internalisation of environmental costs; the compliance document refers instead to the effluent standard set by the minister.[13]

An activity subject to Amdal may apply to the minister, governor or regent or mayor, according to who issues its environmental approval, together with or before its application for environmental approval; an activity subject to UKL-UPL must apply before it.[14] The completeness check takes at most two working days, an incomplete application must be corrected within ten working days or lapses, and the substantive assessment through to issue takes at most thirty working days.[15] The approval sets out the technical standard for meeting the effluent limits, the competence standard for personnel, the environmental management system and the trial period for the treatment system.[16] Changes to the design or technology of the treatment plant, construction of a new plant, or a change in wastewater management require an amended technical approval.[17]

Operational worthiness letter

After building the treatment system and completing the trial, the operator reports to the issuing authority, attaching among other documents the environmental approval, the technical approval and test results from a laboratory registered with the minister.[18] Once the trial period has ended, the operator may not discharge or use wastewater until it receives corrective directions or an SLO.[19] The authority verifies the installation within five days, checking that it was built to the approved standard and that it functions and meets the effluent limits over the preceding two months of tests, and issues the SLO or corrective directions within three working days of verification.[20] One round of correction is allowed, after which non-compliance is referred for enforcement.[21]

Emissions

Chapter III applies a parallel procedure to activities subject to Amdal or UKL-UPL that discharge emissions to air, which likewise need a technical approval and an SLO.[22] The self-screening for emissions turns on whether the activity is located in a class I air-quality protection area and on whether its emission impact is high or low.[23]

Transition and revocation

Existing wastewater discharge or use permits remained valid for the life of the activity, and applications declared complete before 2 February 2021 continued to a technical approval or SLO under the new rules. An operator whose existing permit did not yet include a technical standard for meeting the effluent limits, or whose activity changed, had to apply for an amended environmental approval, supported by a technical approval or SLO, within two years of the regulation's entry into force.[8:2]

Pasal 54 revoked six instruments: Permen LH 12/2006 on discharge of wastewater to the sea, Permen LH 13/2007 on the injection of wastewater from upstream oil, gas and geothermal activities, Lampiran V of Permen LH 1/2010 on water pollution control procedures, Permen LHK P.102/2018 on discharge permits through the electronic licensing system, and two 2003 ministerial decrees on the land application of palm-oil mill effluent.[7:2] JDIH BPK records the regulation as partially revoked by Permen LH/BPLH No. 2 Tahun 2026.[24]

The 2025 effluent standards refer back to the technical approval. Permen LH 11/2025 allows existing activities to adjust their environmental approvals to the new domestic standards without amending their technical approval, and Permen LH 12/2025 requires textile activities to adjust through an amendment of their environmental approval or SPPL.[25][26]

See also

Part of a series on Wastewater and sanitation regulation in Indonesia
AIIRA · Inpres 1/2024 · Permen LH 11/2025 · Permen LH 12/2025 · Permen LH 19/2010 · Permen LH 26/2012 · Permen LH 3/2010 · Permen LH 9/2006 · Permen LHK 16/2019 · Permen LHK 21/2018 · Permen LHK 5/2014 · Permen LHK 5/2018 · Permen LHK 5/2021 · Permen LHK 5/2022 · Permen LHK 68/2016 · Permen LHK 80/2019 · Permen LHK 93/2018 · Permen PU 11/2014 · Permen PUPR 21/2021 · PP 28/2025 · Septic tank regulation in Indonesia · Water and sanitation bill of Indonesia
Identifiers Know ID K197 · Work URI /akn/id/act/permen-lhk/2021/5 · RegVault PERMENLHK_5_2021
Categories Ministerial regulations of Indonesia · Environmental law of Indonesia · Public administration of Indonesia
What links here (12)

References

  1. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 5 Tahun 2021, Pasal 55 and closing formula (Ditetapkan di Jakarta pada tanggal 1 April 2021; Diundangkan di Jakarta pada tanggal 1 April 2021). Berita Negara 2021 No. 268. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  2. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, preamble, Menimbang (implementing Pasal 162 huruf b, Pasal 219 huruf e and Pasal 271 huruf g of PP 22/2021). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 2. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  4. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 3 ayat (1) and (2). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 14 ayat (1). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  6. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 27 ayat (1). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  7. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 54. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 53 ayat (1), (2), (4) and (5). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. [E] "How Are Water Pollution Control Technical Approvals Issued Under PERMENLHK 5/2021?", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 26 November 2025. https://crpg.id/how-are-water-pollution-control-technical-approvals-issued-under-permenlhk-5-2021/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎

  10. [E] "What Wastewater Discharge Permit Requirements Exist Under PERMENLHK 5/2021?", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 26 November 2025. https://crpg.id/what-wastewater-discharge-permit-requirements-exist-under-permenlhk-5-2021/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎

  11. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 1 (definitions of Persetujuan Teknis and SLO). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  12. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 4 and Pasal 5 ayat (1) to (4). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  13. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 6 ayat (1) and Pasal 7 ayat (1). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  14. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 8 ayat (1) to (3). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  15. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 9 ayat (1), Pasal 10 and Pasal 12. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  16. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 13 ayat (1). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  17. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 15 ayat (1) and (2) and Pasal 16. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  18. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 17 ayat (1) to (3). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  19. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 18. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  20. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 19 ayat (1), Pasal 20, Pasal 22 ayat (1) and Pasal 24 ayat (2) and (3). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  21. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 25. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  22. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 28. regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  23. [P] Permen LHK 5/2021, Pasal 30 ayat (1). regulation_id PERMENLHK_5_2021. ↩︎

  24. [P] Permen LHK No. 5 Tahun 2021, JDIH BPK: enacted, promulgated and in force 1 April 2021; Berita Negara 2021 No. 268; status dicabut sebagian by Permen LH/BPLH No. 2 Tahun 2026. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/210999/permen-lhk-no-5-tahun-2021 ↩︎

  25. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup/Badan Pengendalian Lingkungan Hidup Nomor 11 Tahun 2025, Pasal 12. regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎

  26. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup/Badan Pengendalian Lingkungan Hidup Nomor 12 Tahun 2025, Pasal 4 ayat (2). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_12_2025. ↩︎