Post-shipment checks will be smooth: Customs
Post-shipment checks will be smooth: Customs
JAKARTA (JP): Customs officials at Tanjung Priok port and
Soekarno Hatta airport have assured businessmen the post-shipment
inspection of Indonesia's imports, starting April 1, will run
smoothly.
Head of the Jakarta customs and excise office Noek Safoeroh
assured the House of Representatives' Trade and Finance
Commission the inspections would facilitate a smoother flow of
goods than the current pre-shipment inspection.
She promised that Tanjung Priok port's customs officials, who
are under her authority, would serve businessmen better than 11
years ago when the customs service lost its inspection authority.
"When the government stripped us of our inspection authority
in 1985 by introducing the pre-shipment system, we lost not only
our function but also our dignity.
"Is it possible for those who once lost their dignity to be so
foolhardily corrupt again?" Noek asked rhetorically. The custom
service's inspection authority will be returned next April.
She seemed irked by the Indonesian Importers' Association's
persistent criticism. The association has questioned customs
officials' integrity and readiness to resume post-shipment
inspections.
The association, apparently still traumatized by the corrupt
customs service before 1985, has urged the government to maintain
the current pre-shipment inspection system.
Pre-shipment inspections are done by the state-owned PT
Surveyor Indonesia in cooperation with the Geneva-based Societe
Generale de Surveillance, the world's largest inspection company.
The head of the Soekarno Hatta cargo customs office, Sontang
Ruli Siregar, said the post-audit system had proved to be more
efficient and faster in handling air cargo imports.
Customs document processing at the airport takes less than
four hours because of electronic documentation facilities, he
said.
Air cargo imports were freed from pre-shipment inspection in
July.
Official data shows 70 percent of imports enter Indonesia
through Tanjung Priok port and Soekarno Hatta airport.
Roy Ronald Lino, director of customs verification, promised
that once electronic data interchange was in place at Tanjung
Priok port document processing would take less than four hours.
He said electronic data interchange would be ready for
operation at the port by April 1.
Electronic data interchange links electronically the customs
office with banks, port authorities, shipping lines, importers
and freight forwarders.
Noek said her office had made other preparations for the
coming post-shipment inspections, including price listing and
importer classification.
"We will classify importers into different groups -- producer
importers, bonafide and less bonafide general importers," Noek
said.
She said the classification of importers was necessary to
determine the lane -- green or red lane -- for their imports.
Imports through the green lane will not be subject to physical
inspection.
Imports by producer importers and bonafide general importers
will pass the green lane, while imports from less bonafide
importers will go to the red lane.
"Less bonafide importers include those which do not have fixed
addresses or often commit violations like manipulating documents
or smuggling," Noek said.
Producer importers would be treated like bonafide general
importers because if they violated regulations the customs office
could easily audit them in their factories, she said.
The Tanjung Priok port authority will install X-ray scanners
to speed up container box inspections.
Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo Soebardi said
the government had approved the port authority's proposal to
purchase container scanners. (rid)