Customs and excise office delays EDI system for imports
Customs and excise office delays EDI system for imports
JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General of Customs and Excise
will again postpone full implementation of the customs electronic
data interchange (EDI) system for imports until the end of this
year due to the lack of a backup server.
Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said
here yesterday that the current EDI system was not yet supported
by a backup server.
"Without a backup server, it would be risky to run EDI fully.
If the system crashes or if the electricity goes out, it could
destroy the existing import-export data storage system,"
Soehardjo told journalists after opening an EDI seminar.
The Ministry of Finance has actually approved some Rp 50
billion (US$16.9 million) to purchase a backup server for EDI.
But it was postponed by the current currency turmoil, which
forced the government to reschedule some of its development
projects.
Soehardjo said once the server was fully operational, the
customs EDI system would be extended to cover document processing
for exports, slated to start on April 1, 1998.
The chairman of the Indonesian Exporters Association, Hamid
Ibrahim Ganie, said most importers would be ready by then to
subscribe to EDI.
Besides, EDI for exports would be simpler in operation than
for imports, Ganie said.
The implementation of EDI for imports has been postponed
several times. It was originally slated for full operation last
May, but was delayed until June 15 because of a lack in importer
participation.
It was then delayed until Oct. 1, and now until the end of
this year.
With the EDI system, importers can send customs declarations
electronically to the customs office and electronically pay
import duties to their recipient banks.
The system electronically connects the customs office with
importers, shipping firms, foreign exchange banks and port and
airport authorities.
According to the chairman of the Indonesian Importers
Association, Amirudin Saud, the EDI system currently connects
some 450 importers -- out of some 3,000 importers in Jakarta --
along with 23 shipping firms and 116 foreign exchange banks, with
the customs office.
He said the 450 importers were mostly active importers, whose
imported products arrived in Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port or
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport almost every day.
"The other importers are mostly incidental importers, with
imports coming in once a month or even once every two months,
Amirudin said. "Therefore, subscribing to EDI might not be
efficient for them."
He added that his association had established two EDI kiosks
-- one at Tanjung Priok and the other one at the association's
head office on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta -- to serve those
with no connection to the EDI system.
The kiosks would receive manual import declaration documents
from importers, process them and then send them electronically to
the customs office. They would then inform the importers on the
status of their imported goods, whether they could be cleared
directly or not.
To make the EDI system a really efficient means to smoothen
export and import flows, Amirudin suggested that related
government institutions also be connected to the system.
They include the port and airport authority, the tax office,
the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, the Investment
Coordinating Board and the state treasury.
"If these institutions aren't ready, it might be another
constraint on EDI," Amirudin said.
Soehardjo acknowledged that his office had lobbied those
related state institutions to join the customs EDI system, but he
said they had been unresponsive.
"If everyone is connected, it would facilitate import and
export flows by cutting time and costs, as nobody needs to submit
documents manually to related institutions," Soehardjo said.
He added that he would report to President Soeharto about the
delay in the implementation of EDI and would ask the President to
issue an instruction to all related institutions to subscribe to
the system. (rid)