Importers, exporters 'must subscribe to EDI'

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)