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)