Preshipment inspection maintained<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will maintain the pre-shipment
\ninspection system by extending its contract with PT Surveyor
\nIndonesia (PT SI) to carry out the inspection of Indonesia's
\nimports.<\/p>\n
The contract, which was signed here on Monday and announced
\nyesterday, gives authority to PT SI to inspect all goods imported
\ninto Indonesia at points of loading for the next two years.<\/p>\n
PT SI also extended its technical assistance agreement with
\nthe Geneva-based Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) for
\nanother two years, effective immediately.<\/p>\n
Munti Yarso, PT SI's spokesman, said Faried Sybli Barchia of
\nPT SI and H.J. Vischer of SGS signed the technical assistance
\ncontract yesterday.<\/p>\n
However, Munti declined to mention the value of the contract.<\/p>\n
PT SI, with 18 overseas branch offices, claims that it has
\nbeen inspecting 85 percent of Indonesia's total non-oil imports.<\/p>\n
Extending PT SI's contract should cool down the debates over
\nthe inspection system that have lately roiled the House, which is
\ndeliberating a new customs bill.<\/p>\n
The associations of Indonesian importers, exporters and ship-
\nowners have expressed their support for the pre-shipment
\ninspection system.<\/p>\n
Amiruddin Saud, chairman of the Association of Indonesian
\nImporters, hailed the government's decision yesterday to extend
\ntheir contract with PT SI.<\/p>\n
"Importers now feel relieved after this decision," Amiruddin
\nsaid after learning of the extension.<\/p>\n
He added that importers had refrained from opening letters of
\ncredits prior to July 31, the end of the contract between the
\ngovernment and PT SI, due to uncertainty surrounding the
\ninspection system.<\/p>\n
Amiruddin repeatedly argued that the pre-shipment inspection
\nsystem has greatly facilitated the flow of imports by cutting
\nimporting costs and by minimizing administrative irregularities
\nand under-invoicing.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the directorate general of customs and excise,
\nwhich was stripped of its import inspection authority in the
\nmiddle of 1985, has lobbied strongly to have its inspection
\nauthority restored.<\/p>\n
Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo said here
\nyesterday that in the long run the pre-shipment inspection would
\nnot effectively facilitate import flows.<\/p>\n
Soehardjo said the directors general of customs from the
\nAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who met in
\nTretes, East Java, last month, had agreed not to use the pre-
\nshipment inspection system for trade within the ASEAN Free Trade
\nArea (AFTA) after the year 2003.<\/p>\n
"The forum of ASEAN directors generals of customs in Tretes
\nsaw the pre-shipment inspection as a trade barrier and agreed not
\nto use it among ASEAN countries after the implementation of
\nAFTA," Soehardjo said.<\/p>\n
The pre-shipment inspection was introduced in Indonesia in
\n1985, under a presidential decree which stripped the directorate
\ngeneral of customs and excise of its inspection authority. The
\ngovernment then assigned SGS to inspect Indonesia's imports at
\npoints of loading.<\/p>\n
After the government set up PT SI in 1991 in a joint venture
\nwith SGS, the main contract for inspection was awarded to PT SI,
\nwhich then hired SGS as a subcontractor. PT SI is expected to
\neventually take over the whole inspection process from SGS.(rid)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/preshipment-inspection-maintained-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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