House approves customs bill

House approves customs bill

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives passed two bills
yesterday on customs and excise which will become effective on
April 1, 1996.

Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said in a plenary meeting
with the House of Representatives that the new laws would serve
as effective instruments in the upcoming era of global trade
liberalization.

"The new laws have been designed to accommodate developments
and changes which may occur in the future," Mar'ie told the
meeting.

He said the implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) will gradually shift the role of customs from an
institution focusing on goods inspection to one which facilitates
the flow of goods from one country to another, aiding
international trade and investment.

"The government will soon issue rules which will serve as
guidelines on the application of the laws," Mar'ie said.

He said the new law on customs provided for a self-assessment
system, enforced through random inspections.

Under the self-assessment principle, importers and exporters
will provide the customs office with information on the type,
quality, quantity and customs value of goods being transported,
and any applicable tariffs or export taxes. The calculation and
payment of duties will, similarly, be left to importers and
exporters themselves.

Customs and excise officers will carry out post-clearance
audits, checking the correctness of the information
provided.

Apart from introducing the new assessment methods, the new
customs law allows the government to impose anti-dumping tariffs
and countervailing duties. "These rules, therefore, will protect
domestic industries from unhealthy competition imposed by foreign
exporters," Mar'ie said.

Excise

Mar'ie said the new law on excise would draw a distinction
between duties based on factory prices and those based on retail
prices.

The maximum duty based on factory prices will be 250 percent,
while the maximum duty to be imposed on the basis of retail
prices is 55 percent.

Mar'ie said the new laws would enable users of customs and
businesses subject to excises to appeal to the Director General
of Customs and Excise if they considered a decision to be unfair.

Such appeals, he said, could be lodged with the Customs and
Excise Settlement Agency. "This is a temporary agency which will
operate until a tax jurisdiction agency is established," Mar'ie
said.

Meanwhile, Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo
told reporters after the plenary session that the government had
not yet determined the nature of the customs clearance system to
be used.

The current customs rules are based on pre-shipment inspection
of imports.

The system, launched in 1985, was designed to facilitate the
clearance of imports at customs areas. It stripped the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise of its authority to
conduct inspections, assigning the task to PT Surveyor Indonesia
(SI) to be carried out at points of loading.

Last August, the government extended the contract with SI for
a further two years.

The system, which is still considered adequate by importers,
was recently challenged by supporters of the re-introduction of
an on-arrival inspection system.

Soehardjo said yesterday that evaluations were made each year
to determine whether or not the contract with SI should be
extended. (pwn)

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