Customs hurdles resurge

Most businesspeople expected some problems when the customs service resumed in April its import inspection authority, which was stripped in mid-1985 after the introduction of the preshipment inspection system. After all, both customs officials and importers were yet to experience the enforcement of the new customs law.

But the problems allegedly encountered by importers over the last 10 weeks have not been related to "honest" mistakes inherent in a learning process, but to what frustrated businesspeople assert is an abuse of authority, mostly by customs officials.

The magnitude and extent of the hurdles experienced since April by importers processing their customs documents have been such that businesspeople were stung when they discovered that most customs officials were not "reformed", as Customs and Excise Duty Director General Soehardjo had claimed they were. The officials are indeed the product of a new generation, but mostly with the same crooked mentality as those during the corruption- infested pre-1985 customs period.

At a meeting with Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto Monday, importers said the costs of clearing goods through Tanjung Priok port kept increasing because customs and port officials often arbitrarily order that containers be transferred from the port customs area to private storage depots without the consent of the importers. This transfer costs importers almost US$205 per container/day in storage fees, excluding trucking costs.

Many analysts and businesspeople have been apprehensive of possible collusion between private storage depot owners and customs officials because these officials can influence the business turnovers of the depots. Customs officials could, for example, delay the processing of import documents to force importers to move their consignments from the port customs area, thereby generating business for particular private depots.

Such collusions are only one of the problems faced by importers in clearing their goods from the port. A PT Astra Graphia shoe factory director, Aggrayni G, complained directly to the Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo last week that the maximum four hours pledged by the customs service for the processing of import documents was a hollow promise. She said Astra Graphia was connected to the customs electronic data interchange system and had fulfilled all the requirements, but it took three days to fully process its customs documents. This has adversely affected the competitiveness of Astra Graphia's shoe exports because the company depends on imports for 60 percent of its basic materials, she said.

Many other complainants, including courier service companies, pharmaceutical firms and auto assemblers, dared not openly air their grievances for fear of retribution from customs officials.

Corruption at customs was one of the main topics of discussion at the monthly meeting of the embassies of the 15 member countries of the European Union in Jakarta last month. Their complaints are the same: the sharply increasing costs of clearing imports through customs and uncertainty about the delivery of imports.

It is a pity that top customs officials, in addressing such complaints, have not set up a really effective built-in supervision mechanism. Instead, they have either asked for the impossible -- such as evidence of malfeasance -- or blamed other agencies for the problems.

Ten weeks is perhaps not long enough for a fair assessment of the customs service. But since the problems so far have not been related to honest mistakes or a lack of technical competence but rather to a crooked mentality, it is perhaps high time for the government to review the import inspection system. Waiting any longer may cause a great loss because more of our export industries, which depend mainly on imported materials and components, may lose their competitive edge. In this context, a combination of preshipment inspection and on-arrival inspection systems, as suggested by many importers and analysts, deserves serious thought.