In short. When leaving Indonesia, customs under Finance Ministry regulation No. 203/2017 expects a declaration in four cases: gold and pearl jewellery for sale, items you will bring back in later, cash and payment documents of 100 million rupiah or more or the equivalent in currency, and goods subject to an export duty. Rupiah in cash of 100 million or more can be taken out only with Bank Indonesia permission, otherwise the fine is 10% of the amount. Wildlife is moved only by licensed companies with permits, and protected species, including all sea turtles, the nautilus and the giant Hippopus clams, are banned outright: export carries 3 to 10 years in prison under the nature conservation law as amended in 2024. Fruit, seeds, plants and animals pass quarantine with a health certificate, and cultural heritage objects are exported only with the minister's permission. Ordinary gifts from a shop, packaged coffee, spices and cosmetics are usually not stopped by quarantine on departure, and old masks and statues should be bought with a receipt saying the item is new.
What you declare when leaving Indonesia. Article 2 of Finance Ministry regulation No. 203/PMK.04/2017 lists what a passenger reports to customs at departure: gold, pearl and other expensive jewellery from chapter 71 of the customs tariff if you are taking it for sale (article 3); items you intend to bring back into Indonesia, for example expensive equipment, on form BC 3.4 (article 4); cash and payment documents of 100,000,000 rupiah or more or the same amount in foreign currency (article 5); goods on which an export duty is levied (article 6). There is no general "banned from export" list in this regulation, and the electronic declaration filled in on arrival does not work for departure: the Aceh customs office in its answers to questions directly writes that e-CD is only for arrival. Amendment No. 34/2025, which from June 2025 rewrote the import rules, did not touch the articles on export. For an ordinary suitcase of clothes and souvenirs from a shop, customs has no questions.
Cash: the threshold of 100 million rupiah. Government Regulation No. 99/2016 in article 2 obliges everyone who carries across the border cash or payment documents of 100,000,000 rupiah or more or the equivalent in another currency, in either direction, to report it to customs; on departure this is form BC 3.2 on ecd.beacukai.go.id. Whoever does not report pays under article 13 a fine of 10% of the whole amount, not more than 300 million. For rupiah the rule is stricter: under article 4 of the same regulation and Bank Indonesia rule No. 4/8/PBI/2002, 100 million rupiah and more in cash can be taken out only with Bank Indonesia permission, which is given for testing banking equipment, exhibitions abroad and certain cases in the public interest, with an application 15 working days before the flight. A tourist is not going to get such permission, so rupiah above the threshold are not taken out of the country. Foreign currency from the equivalent of 1 billion rupiah is taken out only by licensed organisations, as the same form BC 3.2 reminds. If you have rupiah left before your flight, message BUZZ Exchange on Telegram: we will take the rupiah and give you the currency you need, and the rate is named before the transfer.
Corals, shells, turtle: wildlife. The main law here is No. 5/1990 on nature conservation as amended by law No. 32/2024. Article 21 bans keeping, transporting, selling and exporting from the country protected animals, alive and dead, their parts and items made from them, and also protected plants. The punishment under article 40A: for keeping, transporting and trading 3 to 15 years in prison, for taking out abroad 3 to 10 years, with a fine by categories of the criminal code. Who exactly is protected is written in the annex to Forestry Ministry regulation P.20/2018 as amended by P.106/2018: all sea turtles (green, hawksbill, loggerhead, olive ridley, flatback and leatherback), the nautilus Nautilus pompilius, the horned helmet shell Cassis cornuta, the triton Charonia tritonis, the giant Hippopus clams. So combs, bracelets and glasses "made of turtle", and nautilus shells and large triton shells are a criminal offence. Corals and seahorses are not on the protected list, but that does not make them free: under Forestry Ministry regulation No. 15/2023 the export abroad of wild plants and animals, alive and dead, whole and in parts, is a licensed trade with permits through a state system, and a tourist has no such permits. Bali province in its regulation No. 1/2023 repeated the bans for protected species with local liability of up to six months of arrest or 50 million rupiah. Our advice: take nothing from the sea and the forest, even if bought at a market, and take gifts of wood, fabric and silver.
Fruit, seeds, plants and animals: quarantine. Quarantine law No. 21/2019 in article 34 obliges everyone who takes animals, fish, plants and products from them out of Indonesia to have a health certificate, to export them only through designated points and to present them to the quarantine inspector at the airport or port. For violations article 87 sets up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to 3 billion rupiah. In practice this concerns fresh fruit, seeds and seedlings, live plants, pets and unprocessed animal products: they need a certificate from the quarantine service Barantin, which has a desk at the airport and WhatsApp +62 811-1920-336 according to its site. Packaged coffee, spices and cosmetics from a shop usually raise no quarantine questions, but the law defines "plant products" broadly, so if in doubt ask quarantine in advance. A pet is taken out with an international veterinary certificate issued after an examination in quarantine, as the service itself describes the procedure.
Antiques and cultural property. Cultural heritage law No. 11/2010 in article 68 allows heritage objects to be taken out of the country only for research, promotion of culture and exhibitions and only with the minister's permission; article 109 sets for export without permission from 6 months to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200 million to 1.5 billion rupiah. An object gets heritage status by a decision of the authorities, and under article 5 a candidate is a thing 50 years old or more that represents the style of its era or is important for history and culture. Old masks, krises, statues and fabrics from the markets in Ubud may turn out to be exactly these. Our advice: buy from sellers who give a receipt and are ready to write that the item is new or has no heritage status; do not take truly old items out without permission.
Sand, stones and corals from the beach. We did not find a separate Bali law about a handful of sand or a piece of coral in a bag, although we searched the legal database. There is coastal zones law No. 27/2007: article 35 bans mining corals in a way that harms the reef, taking corals in protected zones and mining sand where it harms nature and people, with a punishment for miners of 2 to 10 years. A handful of sand does not fall under this article. A coral and a live shell fall under the wildlife rules above. Our advice: photograph and leave in place.
Our advice. Before your flight, count your cash: from 100 million rupiah or the equivalent you need form BC 3.2, and rupiah above that sum cannot be taken out at all. Leave souvenirs of the sea, turtle, corals and shells in the shop, take fruit and plants to quarantine for a certificate or do not take them, and buy old things with documents. Medicines for yourself in original packaging with a prescription pass without questions. Anything covered by the drug law should not be carried in either direction. The rules for bringing things into Bali are collected in the guide to customs.
What this means for you. An ordinary suitcase with clothes, fabrics, wood and packaged food leaves Indonesia without declarations. Three things that ruin a trip: cash of 100 million rupiah or more without the form, anything from wildlife, from a coral to a turtle-shell comb, and an antique without permission.