Jakarta Customs Office Inspects Luxury Watch Retailers to Prevent Smuggling
The Jakarta Regional Office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) has conducted further supervisory inspections at several luxury watch retailers across various areas of Jakarta.
The action is being taken to tighten oversight of imported luxury goods circulation, particularly high-value watches, to ensure compliance with customs administration and tax procedures.
“Our focus is on high-value items such as luxury watches entering Indonesia’s customs territory, particularly those not declared or incorrectly declared in import documents,” said Siswo Kristiyanto, Head of Enforcement Section at the DJBC Jakarta Regional Office, in a statement on Tuesday (10 March).
In the latest supervision operation, the Customs Office has not yet taken any sealing action. According to Siswo, Jakarta Customs is conducting this inspection to ensure that luxury goods being sold have met their customs obligations, including import reporting as well as payment of import duties and taxes.
To date, he continued, his office has only ensured consistency between goods being traded and documents held by the company. Should there be goods not yet verified in detail, business owners are asked to provide further explanation at the Customs Office.
“Today’s activity involves no sealing. We are simply ensuring that goods in the store match the documents. If there are items not yet verified, we communicate with the business owner to provide clarification,” Siswo said.
Siswo explained that the current inspection is the fifth round. Previously, the DJBC Jakarta Regional Office had conducted inspections and administrative investigations at several shops, including luxury import jewellery retailers Tiffany & Co and Bening Luxury.
He explained from a customs perspective that problematic imported goods in circulation are classified as illegal goods. This has the potential to be brought into criminal proceedings.
However, Siswo assured that the enforcement measures being taken at present still prioritise an administrative approach.
“At present we are prioritising the fulfilment of administrative obligations such as payment of import duties and import taxes so that companies comply more strictly with customs regulations,” he said.
Furthermore, Customs also urged business operators who have not met their customs obligations to immediately coordinate with the DJBC Jakarta Regional Office before further supervisory measures are taken.
Earlier, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa found indications of theft and smuggling in products sold by several jewellery shops. This followed the sealing of jewellery shops by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) in recent times.
The latest sealing was carried out against Bening Luxury store in Pluit, North Jakarta, following the earlier sealing of three Tiffany & Co outlets in luxury shopping centres.
According to Purbaya, sealing was carried out because the goods sold did not meet import duty payment obligations. He referred to the condition as “Spanish goods”, meaning half-smuggled.
“The goods are Spanish, half-stolen, half-smuggled. Some have 100 per cent unpaid import duties, some 50 per cent, some 25 per cent. The Customs people will look at them,” Purbaya told reporters at his office in Central Jakarta on Monday (23 February).