Antismuggling task force ready

Antismuggling task force ready

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government will soon establish a
special taskforce to combat smuggling in a concerted effort to
safeguard state revenues from unpaid import and export duties and
protect domestic industries from unfair competition, Coordinating
Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli said on Monday.

"The special team will be coordinated by the Minister of
Finance," Rizal told reporters after a Cabinet meeting on
economic affairs chaired by Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.

He said the government had suspected a high prevalence of
import and export smuggling through underinvoicing and an
organized, physical contraband trade.

According to Rizal, many businesspeople have complained about
the poor performance of the customs service, both in facilitating
a smoother inflow of imports and in preventing physical and
administrative smuggling activities.

"But there is no plan in the near future to replace the
current director general of customs and excise duty," he said.

Rizal added that export smuggling mainly consisted of fuel
oils and logs, while the contraband import trade mainly involved
electronic goods.

"Certainly, it is reasonably impossible in the short-term to
entirely eliminate physical smuggling, given the nation's
considerable coastline area," he said.

As a result, the government decided to implement a short-term
contingency measure, he said.

"The government will intensify the monitoring and verification
of volumes and prices quoted on import and export invoices to
prevent administrative smuggling," Rizal pointed out.