Customs to conduct post auditing of imports soon

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said yesterday that his office would soon carry out the post-release audit of imports to ensure all import duties are paid.

Soehardjo said the customs office had not yet conducted post- release audit since it resumed its inspection authority on April 1 and would soon pursue it as was mandated by the 1995 Customs Law.

"Basically we don't want to audit importers all the time... But because of the 1995 Customs Law, we have to do it," Soehardjo said.

The customs law necessitates a self-assessment system for calculating import duties, selective on-arrival inspection of imports and post-entry audit of import documents.

Critics have said the post-release audit could create uncertainty for importers as auditors could unilaterally charge importers with higher import duties.

Soehardjo declined to say if his office would audit all importers. But he indicated that post-auditing would only cover goods which had gone through the "green lane".

Consignments going through the green lane are not subject to customs physical inspections. Only goods going through the red lane are physically inspected by the customs office when they are cleared from customs areas.

Soehardjo said the post-release audit was necessary to cross- check information stated in import customs declarations submitted by importers to clear their goods.

He stressed that not all importers were honest in filling out customs declarations. Therefore, post-auditing of such imports was necessary.

The customs office has said that post-auditing is a backup system for importers' self-assessment on calculating import duties and selective on-arrival inspections.

In a bid to reduce congestion and container pile-up at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port, the customs office had directed most imported goods through the green lane.

Soehardjo said the number of consignments going through the red lane had been decreasing from time to time and now they accounted for less than 20 percent of all imports going through Priok port.

"It means that more than 80 percent of imports can be cleared directly by importers without customs physical inspections," Soehardjo was quoted by Antara as saying.

To expedite goods clearance from Tanjung Priok, customs has called on all importers to subscribe to the customs electronic data interchange (EDI).

The system was introduced to reduce document processing, eliminate physical contact and minimize opportunities for customs officials to extort money from importers.

But the system has not run smoothly due to the slow increase in the number of banks participating in the project. Necessary parties which should have been involved in projects including importers, freight forwarders, shipping companies, foreign exchange banks and tax offices have shown negligence in connecting to the EDI system.

The customs office expected the EDI system at Tanjung Priok to be in full operation by the year 2000. (icn)