Government set to merge KADI and KPPI
Government set to merge KADI and KPPI
Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The government is to merge the Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee
(KADI) and the Indonesian Trade Protection Committee (KPPI) in an
effort to improve measures to protect local industry from unfair
trade practices, an official says.
"Merging the two committees is expected to improve our
efficiency in handling cases of anti-dumping, subsidies and
safeguard measures," KADI chairman Ridwan Kurnaen told reporters
on Friday.
A draft government regulation on the merger was being
discussed by related institutions including the Ministry of
Trade, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs and the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, he said.
Ridwan, who is also chairman of the KPPI, hoped the government
regulation would be deliberated before the end of the year.
His hopes might have some grounds as President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono in his early days at office had said that the
government was now determined to maximize the use of the "injury
clause" to curtail the excesses of trade liberalization.
Committees such as KADI and KPPI would enable Indonesia to
adopt free trade and at the same time safeguard some of its
industries -- and eventually jobs too -- against "unfair" imports
by using a clause permitted under the World Trade Organization
rulings.
KADI was established in 1996 based on Law No. 10/1995 on
Customs, while KPPI was formed later in 2003 with a Presidential
Decree No. 84/2002 on safeguard measures.
The two independent committees give recommendations for a
sector to be protected using temporary tariff barriers upon input
from injured domestic industries that have suffered from the
inflow of cheaper imported products.
It is something that Indonesia has not applied optimally in
the past while other countries, including the U.S. and Europe,
invoked them freely in the name of protecting national interests.
Industry players as well as government trade officials have
long complained that the injury clause could not be applied
effectively due to inter-ministerial coordination problems.
Between 1996 and 2004, out of 31 antidumping petitions
submitted to KADI, only nine cases went through to eventually
imposing antidumping duties. While the other five cases are still
under investigation, the remaining cases were closed, reports
said.
KPPI, meanwhile, had the government imposed a 30 percent
temporary import duty as a safeguard to protect the domestic
tableware industry from surging imports.