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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