Customs red tape
Customs red tape
Indonesian businesspeople often complain about the red tape at
the customs service which delays clearance of goods, thereby
increasing handling costs and disturbing industrial production
processes and plant construction. However, the outrage expressed
last week by Amiruddin Saud, the chairman of the Indonesian
Importers Association, over what he disdainfully criticized as
extortion of bribes by customs officials should jolt the
government into immediate action.
Amiruddin distributed copies of official memos written by the
chief of the intelligence section of the customs service at the
Jakarta port of Tanjung Priok to reporters to emphasize his
point. Importers who got such memos -- there were 1,063 memos
issued in the first quarter of this year alone -- were required
to meet with the customs official in charge before their imports
could be cleared.
At those meetings, as Amiruddin recounted, importers were
forced to pay bribes or face the risk of having the memos
converted into intelligence notes, which would authorize physical
inspection by customs officials. Physical inspection means delays
in clearance of goods and additional costs.
This practice runs counter to the procedures introduced since
the middle of 1985 when the corruption-ridden customs service was
stripped of its inspection authority and imports were subjected
to preshipment inspection by the officially-designated surveyor
company (initially Geneva-based Societe Generale de Surveillance,
or SGS, and later state-owned PT Surveyor Indonesia). Under the
system, which will be effective until July next year, imports
which are covered by Clean Reports of Finding from the surveyor
company's offices in the countries of origin or ports of loading
can no longer be inspected by the customs service at the ports of
unloading, except in special cases when intelligence information
indicates high probability of violations of customs and import
regulations.
The preshipment inspection system minimizes personal contacts
between importers and customs officials which are usually the
starting points for collusion. However, the official memos
require importers to meet with customs officials to "clarify
things". According to Amiruddin, it is at such meetings that
importers are bullied into paying bribes under the threat of
having their imports subjected to physical inspection.
As if all of this were not distressing enough, we were utterly
disappointed at the response to these allegations from the
Customs and Excise Tax Director General, Soehardjo, who
immediately demanded evidence of bribery and the names of the
officials taking bribes from importers. Surely Soehardjo knows
that such bribes are paid in cash without any receipts.
One would think that the customs director general would be so
disgusted by the importers' complaints and allegations that he
would act immediately and in good faith quietly investigate the
allegations.
The big question is why the chief of the intelligence section
of the customs service at the Tanjung Priok port has written so
many memos. Presidential Instruction No.3/1991 on the preshipment
inspection system stipulates that only intelligence information
notes mandate physical inspection and not memos. What is the
purpose of memos which require personal contacts between
importers and customs officials?
The director in charge of smuggling prevention and
investigations at the customs directorate general, Thomas
Sugijata, acknowledged last week that even the intelligence
notes, which are produced through a lengthy process, do not
always result in the proof of wrongdoing on the part of the
importer. Of the 122 intelligence notes his office alone served
to importers in the first quarter of this year as the basis for
physical inspection, only 59 proved true in the sense that the
inspection uncovered violations of customs or import regulations.
The problem is that importers whose imports are delayed by
physical inspection cannot not claim compensation if the
inspection finds nothing wrong.
We think it is most imperative for the customs director
general to clean up his office during the one-year transition
period up to April, 1997, before the new customs law comes into
effect. Otherwise, the government clearly will have to continue
the preshipment inspection system after the July expiry date.