Banks to link loans to waste control
Banks to link loans to waste control
JAKARTA (JP): Lending banks will soon begin assessing the
quality and environmental management systems of their prospective
debtors, an executive of PT Surveyor Indonesia says.
Speaking after a signing ceremony yesterday, the company's
finance director, Toga Sitompul, said that sound quality and
environment management systems will become essential in the
upcoming free trade era.
"Although standard management systems are not stipulated as a
fixed regulation, failure to abide by the systems may result in
legal penalties in the long run," Sitompul said.
Surveyor Indonesia yesterday signed a memorandum of
understanding with British Maritime Technology and Aspects
Certification, two United Kingdom-based accreditation agencies
for quality and environment management systems, which will allow
technology to be transferred to the surveyor firm.
Signatories of the memorandum of understanding were Faried
Barchia, the president of Surveyor Indonesia, David Cairns, the
director of British Maritime Technology, and Stan Counsel, the
managing director of Aspects Certification.
Sitompul said the cooperation was expected to help Surveyor
Indonesia become an accreditation agency in the future.
Surveyor Indonesia, established in 1991, is a joint-venture
company with 20 percent of its shares owned by Geneva-based
Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) and the remaining 80
percent by the government.
It presently conducts pre-shipment inspections of Indonesia's
imports at points of loading under a contract with the
government, in cooperation with SGS as its sub-contractor.
Certificates
Sitompul, who is also Surveyor Indonesia's executive official
in charge of quality and environmental management, said that
banks should start asking prospective debtors if they have ISO
9000 or ISO 14000 certificates.
"Surely creditor banks won't like to see the development of a
golf course or a high-rise building which they financed being
protested by human rights activists or environmentalists,"
Sitompul cited.
The ISO 9000, established by the Geneva-based International
Organization for Standardization, is a total quality management
standard and a benchmark of excellence.
The ISO 14000, to be introduced next year, is a similar
standard for environmental business practices.
Responding to rumors that the ISO 9000 certificate can be
"bought" by companies, Sitompul said the main objective of the
standardization was not in gaining the certificate.
"The quality and environmental management systems are meant to
become a built-in concept. You can display a certificate, but you
can't hide the results of the process from the public," he said.
Sitompul added that by holding such certificates, a company
will be more efficient and, in turn, gain a competitive edge.
The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, he said, require companies to
undergo a regular surveillance audit and environmental assessment
reports, which must be approved by internationally-accredited
auditing agencies.
As of this month, 70 companies in Indonesia had obtained ISO
9000 certificates, while 700 companies in Malaysia already have
similar certificates. (pwn)