More manufacturers demand preshipment inspection of imports

More manufacturers demand preshipment inspection of imports

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Footwear producers have joined other manufacturer associations in
demanding that preshipment inspection be reintroduced for imports
to prevent smuggling and underinvoicing practices that have been
hurting domestic producers.

Djimanto, secretary-general of the Indonesian Footwear
Association (Aprisindo), said in a statement over the weekend
that the customs service had failed miserably to perform its
basic task of facilitating foreign trade (import and export).

He added that his association had urged Coordinating Minister
for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti to give special
attention to the severe damages inflicted on domestic producers
by the incompetent and corrupt customs service.

The government has of late come under stronger pressure from
most manufacturer associations and foreign chambers of commerce
to reintroduce the preshipment inspection of imports due to
rampant smuggling, underinvoicing and uncertainty about the
clearance of imports.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri was briefed early in
December by Amirudin Saud, chairman of the importers association,
on how incompetent and highly venal is the customs service.

Dorodjatun announced early this month that the government was
considering bold measures to stop smuggling and underinvoicing
practices, but no action has thus far been taken.

Most manufacturers, Djimanto pointed out, have suffered from
unfair competition from imports that enter the country through
either outright physical smuggling or underinvoicing practices.

"The government should act firmly and quickly on these
problems to protect domestic producers, which provide employment,
earn foreign exchange, satisfy domestic needs and pay taxes to
the government," he said.

According to Djimanto, shoes smuggled from China and several
other countries have especially hit domestic factories at a time
when they are being forced to depend more on the domestic market
due to the declining international orders.

"We know that smugglers have been colluding with customs
officials to bring in their contraband goods through door-to-door
container services. There are even many big stores in Jakarta
that sell foreign shoes brought in almost entirely through the
collusive door-to-door container services," Djimanto pointed out.

The government, according to him, should not see the customs
problems largely from losses in duty and tax revenues even though
these losses alone are already disastrously damaging given the
huge budget deficit.

"The basic tasks of the customs service is to protect the
domestic market from unfair import competition and the nation
from drugs and other dangerous materials," he added.

He recalled that even in 1985 when the economic condition was
not as critical as it was now the government demonstrated its
political courage to take a bold measure by introducing the
preshipment inspection of imports to facilitate smoother imports
and safeguard duty and tax revenues.

"Then why the government has not acted quickly to take a
similarly bold measure now when the economic crisis has made such
a system even more imperative to protect domestic producers" is
beyond comprehension, he said.

Djimanto pointed out that even the World Trade Organization
had stipulated a special agreement that allowed its member
countries to introduce preshipment inspections to facilitate
smoother imports and protect domestic manufacturers from unfair
import competition.