New customs rulings please businessmen

New customs rulings please businessmen

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Businessmen praised on Wednesday the new rulings on customs,
expressing confidence that the rulings would make the clearance
procedures at customs offices faster and limit opportunities for
crooked officials and importers to commit fraud and smuggling.

"The decrees will make the customs service faster and ease
worries that importers may collude with customs officials during
the clearance process," said Chairman of the National Economic
Recovery Agency (BPEN) Sofjan Wanandi told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.

He was commenting on three decrees issued by the Ministry of
Finance last week, Ministerial Decree No. 453/2002 on import
clearance procedures, Ministerial Decree No. 455/2002 on the
requirement for appointed banks to handle the payment of duties
and levies and Ministerial Decree No. 454/2003 on importer
registration. The decrees will take effect Jan. 1, 2003.

Both the decrees No. 453 and No. 455 emphasize the use of
electronic technology, including the Internet, for importers to
make payments and fill out administrative papers. While decree
454 aims to record accurate data about importers.

Under the current system, importers need to meet face to face
with customs officials to make payments and complete the
administrative forms.

Sofjan said the electronic systems would ensure that importers
could clear their goods on time and promote transparency in
settling disputes between importers and customs officials.

He said disputes between customs officials and importers often
occur over the classification and value of imported goods, which
he termed as a "gray area"

"The gray area has often provided an opportunity for corrupt
customs officials to extort or collude with importers. The
electronic system is expected to prevent such things from
occurring," said Sofjan.

Separately, Nofrial, the head of the customs reform program at
the Directorate of Customs and Excise, said with the new system,
import clearance could be completed in half a day, compared to
about three days under the current system.

Under the new decree, importers can pay their duties and
levies via appointed banks on-line with the customs offices
instead of taking cash to the customs office.

The new decree will also allow well-reputed importers to clear
their goods without undergoing physical inspections by customs
officials. However, "high risk" importers, that is those who are
believed to be prone to fraud, have to undergo such an
inspection.

Based on the decree No. 454, the customs office will register
all importers and then classify them into the "low risk" and
"high risk" categories.

After completing the registration, the customs office will
issue an SRP certificate stating that the holders have been
registered, which will be a requirement for any importers to
clear goods.

As part of the new clearance system, Nofrial said that the
customs office planned to impose a fee for importers amounting
US$10 per import clearance. A portion of the fee will be used to
improve the wages and benefits of customs personnel in hopes that
they will feel adequately compensated and less likely to look for
bribes.

Akbar Saleh, head of customs affairs at the Indonesian
Forwarder Association, expressed support for importer
registration, but he worried that the registration could add to
the bureaucratic red tape.

"I am worried that it will give importers another burden and
uncertainty, since there will be two ministries issuing import
licenses," said Akbar.

Today, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is the only agency
authorized to issue import licenses, but starting in 2003, the
Directorate of Customs and Excise, which is under the Ministry of
Finance, will also have such authority.