GINSI urges importers to apply new customs license
GINSI urges importers to apply new customs license
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Importers Association of Indonesia (GINSI) urged importers
to register at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise in
its effort to curb the fraudulent use of import documents.
"The registration is important because about 600 of the
country's 10,000 importers often falsified import documents to
avoid duty and tax payments," GINSI chairman Amirudin Saud
announced at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
Amirudin said that last year, GINSI reported the operation of
about 200 "false" importers who misused import documents and
would soon report another 50 to authorities.
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise requires
importers to register by the end of March. If any importers fail
to comply with this requirement, the institution will cease to
serve such importer's customs needs, excepting one import
transaction as of April 1.
The mandatory registration is based on Minister of Finance
Decree No. 527/KMK.04/2002 and Minister of Trade and Industry
Decree No. 819/MPP/Kep/12/2002 issued by both ministries on Dec.
30, 2002.
Upon the preliminary introduction of the decrees last year,
GINSI criticized it and asked the government to revoke the new
regulations because, as Amirudin said at the time, the
registration requirement would only add to the bureaucracy and
incur extra costs for the importers.
Amirudin has changed his tune since, and has asserted that the
registration procedure is painless.
"The registration is totally free and can be submitted via the
Internet to minimize contact between customs offices and the
importers," said Amirudin.
Importers can register their companies at the customs office's
website, http://www.beacukai.go.id
Importing procedures in the country are prone to collusive
practices between customs staff and the importers using documents
providing false information, such as addresses and the volume or
amount of the commodity imported.
"Most of the fraudulent importers use false addresses. They
collude with customs staff and avoid payments worth billions of
rupiah. When the authorities try to follow up on importers to
have them fulfill due payments, their addresses are usually found
to be false," he said.
The registration, Amirudin said, would decrease the number of
fraudulent importers to zero.
"The registration requires that importers' addresses as
recorded on their import licenses (API), issued by the Ministry
of Trade and Industry, and their tax identification numbers
(NPWP) should be consistent with each other," he said.
However, such a registration system would not solve the
smuggling issue, he said. As long as the government still
maintained Customs Law No. 10/1995, smuggling would continue to
go on, because the law contained loopholes.
"The only way to fight smuggling is by revising the customs
law and reinstate the pre-shipment inspection system," he said.