No transition period for new customs rules
No transition period for new customs rules
JAKARTA (JP): The government will not give any transition
period for the implementation of the new customs procedures which
comes into force on April 1, the customs office said yesterday.
The Director of Tariffs and Customs Prices, Daeng M. Nazier,
told a seminar the customs office would not accept any surveyor
inspection reports on imported goods after April 1.
"There will be no transition period. So, surveyor inspection
reports will have no legal value after April 1," Daeng said.
The pre-shipment inspection contract with PT Surveyor
Indonesia is to end on March 31 and many import consignments
covered with surveyor's inspection reports will still arrive in
Indonesia in April.
Under the current preshipment inspection system, sea-cargo
imports worth over US$5,000 must be inspected at points of
loading by the designated surveyor company, state-owned PT
Surveyor Indonesia, which then issues a surveyor inspection
report.
After a report is written imports may not be reinspected by
customs officials at unloading points in Indonesia unless an
intelligence note necessitates physical inspection.
Several importers raised the issue of surveyor reports during
a question and answer session.
The Chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association,
Amirudin, demanded the customs office cancel all duty bills
demanding more payment for imports covered by surveyor inspection
reports.
Amirudin said the classification, prices and duties of
imported goods were determined by the designated surveyor
company, not by importers.
"Moreover, the verification division at the directorate
general of customs and excise re-examine only the documents, but
do not conduct physical inspections," he said.
Responding to Amirudin's demand, the Director General of
Customs and Excise, Soehardjo Soebardi, said importers should not
worry about such duty bills because under the new customs
clearance system, they would still be able to object to such
bills.
To settle such problems, Soehardjo said a post-entry audit of
imports should be carried out to determine how much duty should
be paid.
The current preshipment inspection system has been in place
for 12 years but will be replaced by a combination of self-
assessment, on-arrival inspections and post-release audits to
determine customs duty.
Several groups, including the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, American and European busnessmen have requested a
one-to-two year transition period to ensure the smooth flow of
goods.
They said a transition period would benefit importers and the
customs office because implementing a new clearance system would
need some preparation by the customs office.
Amirudin asked the customs office to prepare its staff,
especially those stationed on the frontline, so they could serve
importers better.
"To implement the 1995 customs law, customs officials
stationed in the front line must be those who are professional in
their fields. Experience shows various problems emerge on the
front line," Amirudin said.
He said the customs office should provide better services to
business than Surveyor Indonesia.
Soehardjo promised a better customs service to all involved
but demanded all players, especially importers, be transparent
and honest.
The customs director, Permana Agung, said the new customs
procedures would be simpler than the present system.
For example, importers would no longer have to submit import
plans to the customs office before importation, Permana said.
He said the customs office would deal mostly with documents,
while physical inspections of imports would be used sparingly and
carried out randomly or if intelligence necessitated physical
inspection.
Soehardjo promised the customs office would process all
customs-related documents submitted by importers within an hour
provided they subscribed to the electronic data interchange
system. (rid)