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)