Germany worried about new govt ruling on customs

JAKARTA (JP): Most German businesspeople here are concerned about the government's plan to replace preshipment import inspections with on-arrival import inspections, a foreign official said.

"Most of them have expressed their great concern over whether the new system would still guarantee a smooth and fast flow of imported goods to this country," Andreas E Warburg, the head of Trade and Cooperation of German-Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Ekonid), said yesterday.

He said businesspeople preferred preshipment inspections because it had already proved it could guarantee a smooth and fast flow of imports to Indonesia.

He said the German businesspeople were now in a wait-and-see position on what's going to happen.

He said the businesspeople were uncertain about the impact of the new system on imports from Germany.

Ekonid's latest figures show Indonesia's imports from Germany in 1995 were worth 2.1 billion DM (US$1.27 billion), while its exports were only 1.89 billion DM

"It would be better for the time being to postpone this new system. This is right. But it is also understandable from the Indonesian side that they want to have this implemented," he said.

He said the directorate general of customs and excise should simplify its bureaucratic procedures to shorten import clearance time and improve its staff.

Corruption was rampant among customs officials before preshipment inspections were introduced in June, 1985 but he said it was necessary to "differentiate between corruption and service fees, which include unexpected costs. Most businesspeople here usually allocate about 10 percent of their investment for service fees."

Most Indonesian and foreign businesspeople are worried about the status of preshipment inspection with a new customs law taking effect in April.

They are particularly worried about the high cost economy corrupt customs officials could cause.

The new law will restore responsibility for import inspection authority to the customs office and introduce selective on- arrival import inspections, post-entry audits of import documents and a self-assessment system for calculating import duties.

Last week Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said the new 1995 customs law must come into action on April 1, although some technical matters could be adjusted after the date.

But the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for a three-to-six-month transition period before the law was fully enforced.

The Chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, Amiruddin Saud, was also worried the new system might delay the flow of imports.

He said a longer transition period was needed before the new law was fully enforced.

"Three to six months is not enough for the customs office to fully handle the new system. It should not be fully enforced until 2003 as preparations in the customs office had been inadequate," he said. (bnt)