Customs and Excise entrusted to check all imported goods

Customs and Excise entrusted to check all imported goods

JAKARTA (JP): A new finance minister decree on customs
clearance of imports empowers the Directorate General of Customs
and Excise to inspect all imported goods at customs or designated
temporary storage areas.

But decree No. 25/KMK.05/1997, dated Jan. 15, 1997, to be
effective April 1, does not specifically terminate the
preshipment inspections of imports, which have been in place
since mid-1985.

It only stipulates that all imported goods must be inspected
by customs officials and approved by an authorized customs
official before being cleared from customs areas.

Inspections will cover both document checks and physical
inspections, which shall be selective to ensure smooth cargo
flows.

Customs is now only allowed to inspect sea cargo imports worth
up to US$5,000 and air cargo imports. Inspections of sea cargo
imports worth more than $5,000 is carried out at points of
loading by the appointed surveyor, state-owned PT Surveyor
Indonesia.

To smooth document flows and reduce personal contact, the
ruling stipulates that importers shall submit import documents to
local customs offices electronically provided that customs
offices have been equipped with electronic data interchange
facilities.

Importers are allowed to make their own assessments of import
duties and taxes due based on the transaction value of their
imports.

Goods can be released only after importers have submitted
import declarations and paid all import duties and taxes.

If imported goods must be released quickly for good reason,
importers may ask the head of a customs office to postpone their
tax and duty payments after providing a guarantee.

Importers are required to settle credited duties and taxes
within 60 days of submitting their import declarations.

Importers may submit import declarations before the arrival of
their goods.

Carriers' duties

Shipping lines and cargo airlines are required to notify local
customs offices of the planned arrival of their goods.

These reports must contain the name of the ship or carrier,
voyage or flight number, port or airport of loading, destination
ports or airports, planned date of arrival and the number of
containers or packages to be unloaded.

But this pre-arrival notification requirement does not apply
to the planned arrival of imported goods carried over land.
Reports for such imports are required upon their arrival.

After goods arrive at their ports or airports of destination,
liners or carriers must report the arrival to customs within 24
hours, enclosing bills of lading, lists of passengers and crew
and lists of firearms and drugs carried on the flight or voyage.

Incoming goods should be unloaded in a customs area. But they
may also be unloaded outside customs areas with an approval from
the head of a local customs office.

After unloading goods, shipping lines and airlines are
required to report the number of containers or packages unloaded.

Unloaded goods can be cleared directly from customs areas
after being inspected by customs and after all duties and taxes
have been paid.

Goods with unsettled duties and taxes can be stacked in
designated temporary storage areas. With the consent of the head
of a local customs office, goods can be transported directly to
importer's warehouses.

The decree gives customs officials two years after the release
of imports to verify import declarations and make any corrections
under the so-called post-entry audit system. (rid)