Importers, exporters 'must subscribe to EDI'

JAKARTA (JP): Importers and exporters in the city must subscribe to the customs electronic data interchange (EDI) system by Oct. 1, Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said yesterday.

Speaking to journalists after opening a seminar on EDI, Soehardjo said the customs office would not accept manual or semimanual export or import declarations by that date.

He said the EDI system should have been connected to importers and exporters on May 1 following the implementation of the 1995 Customs Law on April 1.

But the customs office postponed it twice because some importers, especially smaller ones, had not yet equipped themselves with sufficient infrastructure for the EDI system.

"But this October, they must be ready for that... All small and big importers releasing goods through the Tanjung Priok port or Soekarno-Hatta airport must use the EDI system," he told journalists.

The government will subsidize the EDI operation, and importers and exporters connected to the system will not be required to pay anything but telephone bills.

Before being connected to the EDI system, Soehardjo said, importers and exporters must sign a trading partner agreement with the customs office to ensure they only send correct information.

Chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association, Amirudin Saud, supported Soehardjo's plan to make it compulsory for all importers and exporters in Jakarta to subscribe to the EDI.

"Our members are ready to subscribe to the EDI," Amirudin told journalists.

The customs EDI system, run by PT EDI Indonesia, is designed to electronically connect the customs office with importers, exporters, shipping firms, foreign exchange banks, port and airport authorities and other related parties.

About 20 percent of all importers and exporters in Jakarta subscribe to the EDI system, while the remaining 80 percent still submit their export and import declaration documents to the customs office manually in papers or diskettes.

The EDI system enables importers and exporters to send their customs declarations electronically to the customs office and electronically pay import or export duties to their recipient banks.

But currently only a few foreign exchange banks participate in the system. They include Chase Bank, Bank Bali and Bank Universal.

Soehardjo said his office would expand the EDI networks to ports and airports outside Jakarta. The potential ports or airports include those in Semarang, Central Java, Surabaya, East Java, Medan, North Sumatra, and Batam, Riau.

Rates

Owing to the rupiah's recent sharp depreciation, Soehardjo said his office had proposed the finance ministry increase the rupiah's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar for the calculation of import duties.

The customs office still uses the old rate of 2,488 against the U.S. greenback to calculate import duties despite the rupiah's depreciation to over 2,700.

Soehardjo said the government would likely issue the new rate later this week or next week. But he declined to mention how much the increase would be.

"The Ministry of Finance is still finalizing it. Hopefully, the new rate will come up next week or maybe later this week," he said.

Amirudin welcomed Soehardjo's proposal saying the rate adjustment was necessary to compensate the rupiah's depreciation.

"We expect the new rate to be between 2,500 and 2,600. If it is more than 2,600, it will burden importers," he said. (aly)