Government asked to anull decision on export inspection

JAKARTA (JP): Disappointed, the Association of Indonesian Exporters (GPEI) has taken its case to newly-elected President Megawati Soekarnoputri, urging her to annul the recent government decision to entrust the customs office to manage export inspection services.

GPEI's chairman Amirudin Saud said on Thursday that he had sent a letter to the President, urging her to again entrust the state surveyor company PT Superintending Company of Indonesia (Sucofindo) with the task of inspecting exports as the company had been efficient in facilitating exports.

"Sucofindo has managed the export inspection service well under its professional management. We found no problem with their service," Amirudin told The Jakarta Post.

Sucofindo, which had been providing export inspection services since 1986, lost the business following the government's decision on Monday not to renew Sucofindo's two-year contract that expired on July 31.

Amirudin, also chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, said the decision would backfire and result in inefficiencies as the customs office was still entrapped in bureaucratic problems.

"The office won't be capable of handling the export inspection services as it has failed to free itself from red tape," Amirudin told The Jakarta Post.

Long-known as a corrupt institution, the customs office lost its inspection rights over both imports and exports in mid-1980s when then president Soeharto entrusted a private company and state-owned company with the inspection procedure of both exports and imports.

Geneva-based Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) was entrusted to conduct preshipment inspections of imports, while Sucofindo for exports.

The customs office, nevertheless, regained its inspection rights over imports in April 1997, when the government implemented the 1995 customs law, which introduced a post-audit system of on-arrival inspections.

This month, the customs office regained its inspection rights over exports.

Amirudin noted that the decision to restore the customs office' inspection rights over imports had cost importers dearly, and therefore, the decision to restore the customs office' inspection rights of exports would also be costly for exporters.

"The customs and excise office has failed to provide clean inspection services to importers as inefficient procedures are still rampant. Why did the government give another task to the troubled institution?," Amirudin questioned.

Separately, Sucofindo president Didie Tedjosumirat said the company lost Rp 270 billion in earnings from export inspection services, or about 48 percent of its total earnings.

Nevertheless, the company has been expanding into new businesses to offset the 48 percent revenue loss.

The new businesses include the surveillance of illegal logging activities and foreign fishing vessels and the management of companies' inventories, he said.

Sucofindo also objected to the customs and excise office's claim, as reported by the Post on Thursday, that under the company, exporters had to wait up to 20 days from the submission of documents to receiving verification.

"Sucofindo issues its certificate within 24 hours, and in some branches it's less than five hours after the inspection of goods," it said in a statement.(03/bkm)