RI can hike import tariffs on chicken legs: Expert

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government can propose to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it wanted to increase import tariffs on chicken leg imports to 200 percent to protect local poultry farmers, an expert says.

The top-level expert, who requested anonymity, also said Wednesday that the U.S. government could not file complaints against Indonesia at the WTO if the government implemented such a policy.

He said that according to the WTO's ruling No. XXVIII/1994, each member country was allowed to increase import duties on certain products exceeding the binding tariff limit if imported products caused serious damage to local industries.

"We can impose higher tariffs on chicken leg imports but we have to justify first that the imports have seriously injured local poultry farmers," the source told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the binding tariff limit on chicken legs imports was 40 percent.

He said that any proposed import tariff increase should be made at the WTO's committee on market access.

The source added that the U.S. government could not file complaints at the WTO if Indonesia increased the import tariff because the former does not hold the Initial Negotiating Right (INR) on chicken products.

The U.S. has been pressing the government of Indonesia to lift a one-year old ban on chicken leg imports. The ban was issued by the ministry of agriculture to protect local farmers from cheaper imports.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that local poultry farmers have seen chicken imports grow 35 fold, from only 347 tons in 1998 to 14,017 tons in 2000.

Ministry of Trade and Industry Rini M. Soewandi has proposed the revocation of the import ban, arguing that it could not simply ban the influx of U.S. chicken legs because it was against the WTO ruling.

But Vice President Hamzah Haz had opposed such a plan based on fears that it would cause harm to local poultry farmers.