Minister to ask customs office for Timor clearance
Minister to ask customs office for Timor clearance
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo
said yesterday that he would ask the Directorate General of
Customs and Excise to release the Timor cars imported from South
Korea because their owner has secured adequate bank guarantees.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with President Soeharto at
the Bina Graha presidential office here, Tunky said he had
informed the director general of customs and excise that the
importer of the cars, PT Timor Putra Nasional, has provided
sufficient guarantees to meet the government's requirements.
There was therefore no reason to stop the cars from receiving
customs' clearance, he said.
According to earlier reports, about 4,000 Timor cars, dubbed
Indonesia's first national cars, had not been released from the
control of the customs office because PT Sucofindo, the state-
owned surveying company assigned to assess the local content of
the cars, had not submitted its verification. The cars are
exempted from import duties and luxury tax on the condition that
their local content is no less than 20 percent.
Without the surveyor's verification, the customs office was
unwilling to allow the clearance of the cars.
But Tunky's statement yesterday implies that the bank
guarantees submitted by Timor Putra are adequate to allow the
clearance of the cars.
"The surveyor works on behalf of the government, which in this
case is the Ministry of Industry and Trade. If the ministry has
stipulated that the cars may be released because they have
sufficient bank guarantees, there should be no problem," Tunky
said.
In February the government announced its preferential car
policy exempting national car producers from import duties and
luxury sales tax. It then said that only Timor Putra, controlled
by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, would
qualified for the scheme.
Timor Putra plans to make the national car in conjunction with
South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. Because of the slow progress in
the preparations for the car's production in Indonesia, the
government allowed the cars to be manufactured at a Kia plant in
South Korea under the Timor name and be exported to Indonesia.
Before clearing the imported cars from customs areas or
entrepots, Timor Putra was required to provide the government
with bank guarantees whose value is equal to the imported cars'
exempted duties.
The company is also required to provide other bank guarantees
with a value equal to the cars' luxury taxes when it wants to
deliver the cars to its customers.
The idea behind requiring Timor Putra to provide such bank
guarantees is that if the company cannot meet the local content
requirements set by the government it will have to pay all the
duties of the cars it imported and sold to customers.
The 4,000 cars made by Kia arrived at North Jakarta's Tanjung
Priok port at the end of August. They have been stocked at
private entrepots awaiting government approval for their
clearance. (pwn)
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo
said yesterday that he would ask the Directorate General of
Customs and Excise to release the Timor cars imported from South
Korea because their owner has secured adequate bank guarantees.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with President Soeharto at
the Bina Graha presidential office here, Tunky said he had
informed the director general of customs and excise that the
importer of the cars, PT Timor Putra Nasional, has provided
sufficient guarantees to meet the government's requirements.
There was therefore no reason to stop the cars from receiving
customs' clearance, he said.
According to earlier reports, about 4,000 Timor cars, dubbed
Indonesia's first national cars, had not been released from the
control of the customs office because PT Sucofindo, the state-
owned surveying company assigned to assess the local content of
the cars, had not submitted its verification. The cars are
exempted from import duties and luxury tax on the condition that
their local content is no less than 20 percent.
Without the surveyor's verification, the customs office was
unwilling to allow the clearance of the cars.
But Tunky's statement yesterday implies that the bank
guarantees submitted by Timor Putra are adequate to allow the
clearance of the cars.
"The surveyor works on behalf of the government, which in this
case is the Ministry of Industry and Trade. If the ministry has
stipulated that the cars may be released because they have
sufficient bank guarantees, there should be no problem," Tunky
said.
In February the government announced its preferential car
policy exempting national car producers from import duties and
luxury sales tax. It then said that only Timor Putra, controlled
by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra, would
qualified for the scheme.
Timor Putra plans to make the national car in conjunction with
South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. Because of the slow progress in
the preparations for the car's production in Indonesia, the
government allowed the cars to be manufactured at a Kia plant in
South Korea under the Timor name and be exported to Indonesia.
Before clearing the imported cars from customs areas or
entrepots, Timor Putra was required to provide the government
with bank guarantees whose value is equal to the imported cars'
exempted duties.
The company is also required to provide other bank guarantees
with a value equal to the cars' luxury taxes when it wants to
deliver the cars to its customers.
The idea behind requiring Timor Putra to provide such bank
guarantees is that if the company cannot meet the local content
requirements set by the government it will have to pay all the
duties of the cars it imported and sold to customers.
The 4,000 cars made by Kia arrived at North Jakarta's Tanjung
Priok port at the end of August. They have been stocked at
private entrepots awaiting government approval for their
clearance. (pwn)