Customs promises to reduce red tape

Customs promises to reduce red tape

JAKARTA (JP): The customs administration resumed its
inspection authority yesterday, promising to uphold law, minimize
red tape and expedite import and export flows.

The implementation of new customs procedures at Jakarta's
Tanjung Priok port -- Indonesia's biggest port -- ran smoothly
although some importers and freight forwarders looked ill at ease
clearing their goods through customs.

Some importers and customs brokers said they found customs
officials helpful and quick in processing documents.

"Our imported goods arrived this morning, and we cleared them
by midday although they went through the red lane," said importer
Lucky Herikajiman from PT Hesson Trijaya.

Imported goods going through the red lane are subject to
physical inspections.

Physical inspections are to be carried out randomly or if an
intelligence note necessitates physical inspection.

The customs director, Permana Agung, said the customs office
had established a standard ratio of 10 to 7, whereby seven of
every 10 intelligence notes issued should prove correct upon
inspections.

"So, if a customs official issues 10 intelligence notes, but
four of them turn out to be false or groundless, we should sack
or remove that person," Permana said.

In the past, customs officials had been accused of issuing too
many intelligence notes or even memos to extort money from
importers.

All high-ranking customs officials inspected the first day
implementation of the new customs procedures, which involve self-
assessment of import duties and taxes by importers, selective on-
arrival inspections and post-release audits at Tanjung Priok port
and Soekarno-Hatta airport.

The new customs procedures replaced the preshipment inspection
of imports, which had been in place since mid-1985.

"Today, we enter a new era in our customs service as we start
implementing the 1995 customs law," said Directorate General of
Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi.

He pledged to take tough measures against unscrupulous customs
officials and importers to ensure smooth flows of imports and
secure import tax and duty revenues.

"We do not want to be blamed as the ones who hinder the flow
of goods anymore," Soehardjo said.

But Soehardjo has a long way to go to convince importers who
still remember the trauma of dealing with notoriously corrupt
customs officers before mid-1985.

Most businessmen, especially foreign investors, seem to worry
that the customs officials, excited about the reinstatement of
their inspection authority, may perform well in the first few
weeks before slipping back into their old habits.

"I don't think the general bureaucratic environment is
conducive for the customs officials to work efficiently for a
long time," a foreign business analyst said yesterday.

He wondered how the customs service could be clean while most
other government offices were engaged in malfeasance.

Quicker

Soehardjo promised that all documents processed at the customs
office would not take longer than four hours and would be much
quicker when the importers subscribed to the customs electronic
data interchange.

Soehardjo said any delay in clearing imported goods should be
traced to other parties involved like the port authority, which
oversees the cargo terminals, or freight forwarders.

"If there is anything to be blamed on us, we open our doors
for complaints. I myself, all directors and heads of customs
provincial offices will be happy to take all complaints," he
promised.

Soehardjo also released the names of 102 importers which
submitted fictitious addresses.

The customs office will blacklist them.

"It is important to issue their names publicly to deter other
companies from playing hide and seek with us. We will block
them," Soehardjo said.

"In this era of globalization, everybody must be transparent.
If not, they will be overrun and killed by tight competition," he
said.

The chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, Amirudin
Saud, said he supported blacklisting importers using fictitious
addresses.

"We totally support the customs office in this matter. Through
my quick look at the list, I found no association members there.
But if later I found our members on the list, we will ask the
Ministry of Industry and Trade to revoke their licenses,"
Amirudin said.

The association has been the toughest critic of the customs
services which it says is highly corrupt. (rid)