Customs office plans paperless services next year

JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General of Customs and Excise plans to launch paperless customs services, using an electronic data interchange (EDI) system in April when the new customs law comes into force.

Eddy Abdurrachman, head of the directorate general's automatic data processing and information center, said yesterday that the system will help expedite the clearance of imported goods from customs areas.

"These days, we are not sure how much time is needed to clear goods from customs areas because everything is handled manually. Later, when the EDI system is in place, the clearance can be handled much quicker," Eddy announced after attending the signing of a memorandum of understanding on customs cooperation between Indonesia and Korea's customs services.

"If we can clear goods within one day using the system, it will be quite a breakthrough," Eddy said, adding that the system will be used as a pilot project in Tanjung Priok port and Sukarno-Hatta Airport, both in Jakarta.

The system, Eddy said, is designed to reduce personal contact between customs officials and businesspeople and consequently lessen red tape and minimize the possibility of collusion between officials and businesspeople.

Eddy explained that the system will electronically connect the customs office to all related parties involved in customs matters, including importers, port and airport authorities, shipping companies, airlines, freight forwarders, banks and related government departments.

Eddy, however, declined to give the figures on the total cost of the electronic data interchange system, saying that investment in the system will be mostly borne by state-owned telecommunications firm PT Indosat and state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan II.

Both companies have set up a provider, PT EDI Indonesia, to run the system for customs services.

Eddy noted that the system will be very important to facilitate the smoother flow of goods, especially when Indonesia applies the post-audit system for imported goods beginning in April.

The government, through a finance ministry decree dated May 28, will terminate the preshipment inspection contract with state-owned PT Surveyor Indonesia on April 1, 1997, three months earlier than its original expiry date.

The decree, however, does not stipulate if preshipment inspections will be maintained or not. It only informs Surveyor Indonesia to prepare for the termination of its contract.

The directorate general lost its inspection authority in mid- 1985, when the government installed the preshipment inspection system for Indonesia's imports in a bid to ensure the smooth flow of imports.

Director General of Taxes and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said his office had invested tens of billions of rupiah to prepare its personnel to conduct post-auditing of import documents.

"The post-audit system demands transparency in all related parties. So, we hope the people using customs services will be more open in declaring their goods, otherwise they may encounter problems," Soehardjo said.

He assured businesses that the post-audit system will be much cheaper than the current preshipment inspection system whereby the government has to pay inspection fees to Surveyor Indonesia.

Eddy explained that the post-audit system is basically a self- assessment system where importers and exporters themselves assesses the value of their goods and pay the taxes and other duties according to their assessment. Customs inspection will be done selectively.

"Under the post-audit system, we should trust each other and basically deal only with documents. When businesspeople do everything correctly, they will not face any difficulties at all," Eddy assured. (rid)