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)