Perlindungan Hukum terhadap Kerugian Materiil Korban Peredaran Obat yang Merusak Kesehatan Berdasarkan Undang-Undang Perlindungan Konsumen

Abstract

This research is motivated by the prevalence of serious health issues among children in Indonesia caused by the circulation of syrup medicines containing hazardous chemicals. Although court rulings have imposed criminal sanctions on the parties involved, these rulings have not restored the financial rights of the affected consumers. The issues examined are the legal protection regarding consumers' material losses resulting from the circulation of health-damaging medicines—viewed through the lens of the Consumer Protection Law (UUPK)—and the mechanisms for recovering such losses. This study aims to identify the forms of legal protection and formulate measures for recovering victims' material losses based on Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection (UUPK). It employs a normative legal research method utilizing statute, case, and conceptual approaches, with a descriptive-analytical analysis of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The findings indicate that while the UUPK provides for both preventive and repressive consumer protection, current law enforcement focuses primarily on penalizing business actors, often neglecting victims' rights to compensation. Article 19 of the UUPK, which establishes the principle of strict liability and the class action mechanism, serves as the legal basis for victims to claim civil compensation. The study concludes that consumer justice remains incomplete if it stops at criminal sanctions against business actors; therefore, there is a need to standardize mass compensation amounts and synchronize procedural laws so that evidence from criminal cases can be directly utilized in civil lawsuits, thereby accelerating the restoration of victims' rights.