Ministry to suspend 20% of import licenses

Ministry to suspend 20% of import licenses

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

About 20 percent of the country's 7,000 importers will have to
end their operations soon as the Ministry of Industry and Trade
has decided to suspend their licenses following their failure to
report to the ministry company data.

The action was part of the ministry's efforts to boost
supervision on the country's import activities in a bid to curb
smuggling.

Last year, the ministry ordered all importers to submit new
data about themselves to the ministry.

However, thus far, only 5,560 of the country's 7,126 importers
have complied with the instruction.

The remaining 1,566 importers have not sent any data, leaving
the ministry in the dark about their whereabouts.

"I have ordered my staff to freeze their (the importers')
identification numbers," Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS
Soewandi said in a seminar.

It remains unclear why the importers have failed to send their
new company profiles, but analysts say some of them may have
stopped operations due to bankruptcy or not dared to report to
the ministry for fear of being investigated.

The government's current intensive efforts to crack down on
smugglers have apparently caused jitters among importers who are
involved in illegal activities.

Local producers have often voiced complaints about the influx
of smuggled goods which they claim have badly hurt their
businesses.

As part of the efforts to curb the contraband activities, the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise has also ordered all
licensed importers to register with the agency. The agency wants
to identify which importers are good and which ones are dubious
or likely to be involved in smuggling.

Under a joint ministerial decree signed by Rini and Minister
of Finance Boediono last December, all importers have to register
themselves and submit their company profiles to the customs
office by April 1. The customs officials will verify all the
company profiles, including their financial reports, submitted by
the importers.

Starting next month, only importers who have registered with
the customs office will be allowed to continue their activities.

However, the Indonesian Importers Association (Ginsi) said on
Thursday the requirements set by the customs office for the
registration were considered by many importers "too much" such
that they had yet to register themselves only days ahead of the
deadline.

"Until now, some 5,000 importers have not yet registered their
companies with the customs office," Amiruddin Saud, Ginsi's
chairman said.

He thus called on the government to postpone the deadline for
several months to give more time to importers to meet all the
requirements set by the customs office.

He warned that the country's imports could significantly drop
this year if the government refused to extend the deadline and
went ahead with its plan to suspend the licenses of importers who
fail to meet the deadline.

"Our imports could drop by 50 percent this year," he warned.

Last year's imports reached US$33 billion.

Amirudin also repeated calls for the implementation of a pre-
shipment inspection (PSI) system to help curb rampant smuggling
and under-invoicing practices.