New customs bill gives more power to customs office
New customs bill gives more power to customs office
JAKARTA (JP): The customs bill, when enacted, will empower the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise to carry out post
auditing of both imports and exports, a legislator said.
Jusuf Talib, chairman of the House of Representatives' special
team for the deliberation of the bill, told journalists Thursday
that post auditing is necessary to ensure that both exporters and
importers declare the truth on their documents.
He said the post audit system is the logical consequence of
the self-assessment system, which gives freedom to both exporters
and importers to assess their own exports and imports.
"The post audit system is expected to facilitate smoother
flows of imports and exports as it involves inspections on
documents only, not on goods," he said.
The deliberation of the customs bill, along with the excise
bill, entered the last stage Thursday. The House is scheduled to
pass the bill into law in a plenary session on Tuesday.
Jusuf, a legislator from the ruling Golkar faction, reiterated
that whatever customs clearance system is used, whether pre-
shipment inspection or on-arrival inspection system, post
auditing is still required.
In the case of customs clearance, Jusuf said the new bill lets
the government decide. "It's totally up to the government to
choose the best system."
The current customs rulings are founded on pre-shipment
inspection of imports, which is carried out by government-
contracted surveying companies.
The pre-shipment inspection system was launched in mid-1985
under a presidential decree designed to expedite the clearance of
imports at customs areas. The decree stripped the inspection
authority of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise and
the government later assigned the Geneva-based Societe Generale
de Surveillance (SGS) to inspect Indonesia's imports at points of
loading.
The contract with SGS was modified in 1991 after the
government set up a new inspection firm, PT Surveyor Indonesia,
in a joint venture with SGS. The main contract for the
inspections was then awarded to Surveyor Indonesia, which in turn
hired SGS as a subcontractor.
Last August, the government extended the contract with PT
Surveyor Indonesia for another two years.
"Later, when the contract expires in 1997, I hope the
government will return the customs inspection authority to the
Directorate General of Customs and Excise," Jusuf said.
Integrity
Legislator Dimmy Haryanto from the Indonesia Democratic
Party's faction at the House noted that the return of the customs
inspection authority to the customs office should be followed
with integrity improvement in the part of customs officials.
"Therefore, our faction demands that efforts to improve the
integrity of customs officials should be further pursued by
improving their welfare and professional capability and punishing
them if they break the rules," Dimmy said.
The new bill gives the customs office 10 years to probe into
export and import documents. Therefore, exporters and importers
are required to keep their documents also for 10 years.
Under the new bill, importers and exporters can appeal to a
settlement agency against decisions made by the customs office if
they consider the decisions unfair.
Jusuf reiterated that physical inspections for both imports
and exports must be carried out on a selective basis only.
Especially for exports, physical inspections require the consent
from the minister of finance.
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said that the provisions
of the bill, which require inspections for exports, will not
change current export practices.
"Exports are the backbone of our economy and, therefore, we
must ensure the smooth flow of exports. We have no intentions at
all of hindering exports. Everything will continue as it is,"
Mar'ie assured.
The new bill is expected to guarantee a fair trade system
since it includes various provisions covering dumping, copyright
protection and export subsidies. (rid)