Government dismisses notaries' demand over new fee
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights ruled out on Tuesday demands by the Indonesian Notary Public Association (INI) for a delay in the implementation of a computerized system in the licensing of companies.
"The new system has been effective since March 1, and it won't be delayed unless the minister says so," the ministry's Director General of General Law Administration Romli Atmasasmita told a media conference.
He defended that the new system was aimed at improving the service on licensing a corporate body recommended by a notary public.
"With the computerized system, the process can be shortened from 60 days to seven days at the latest," Romli said.
The computerized system, he added, will avoid collusion, corruption and nepotism since it does not allow notaries public to physically deal with the ministry staff in applying for licenses for limited companies.
INI has complained about the system, which in the past increased the licensing process rate by eight times.
The new fee was imposed by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD), a company appointed by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to provide computerized services for business licenses.
According to Romli, the new rate has been set at Rp 1,705,000, including 10 percent service tax. The tariff comprises Rp 200,000 in government nontax revenue (PNBP), which remains unchanged, Rp 350,000 for company name search, a Rp 1,000,000 licensing fee, which applies to both limited and public companies, and tax.
Romli said the old rate was low, but there was "extra money" which had to be paid by the notaries for the licensing process, depending on an agreement with the ministry staff.
He said that besides the official rate of Rp 200,000 for PNBP, people also had to pay between Rp 25,000 and Rp 50,000 for the name search and Rp 2,000,000 for the licensing of a limited company or up to Rp 5,000,000 for a public company.
Johanes Woworuntu of SRD, who also spoke at the conference, said the company had invested Rp 23.75 billion (US$2.5 million) in the computerized system.
"We forecast to reach the break-even point in seven years," he said.
The ministry will take over from the company after 10 years, based on a build-operate-transfer agreement.
Contacted separately, INI chairman Harun Kamil said the association accepted the new computerized system, but opposed the high rate.
"The new rate will only burden some people," Harun said.
He said INI rejected the new fee because the government- sanctioned company remained unable to transparently provide details of the fee to notaries public.
"If the company was transparent in informing us of the details of the fee, we could have cooperated in calculating the proper fee for the new system," said Harun.
He also said that INI had asked the ministry to set the new rate according to a company's investment.
"How can the ministry set a similar rate for companies with an initial capital of Rp 20,000,000 and those with Rp 500,000,000?" he queried.
Therefore, an INI plenary meeting in Batam, Riau on Feb. 16 advised all its members to reject the computerized system for an indefinite period.
The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Affairs launched the computerized system on Jan. 31 that could accelerate the licensing process of corporate bodies. (04)