Waste paper import rule to be revoke: Singgih
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Singgih said yesterday he will soon revoke the ruling issued by his office in the early 1980s that requires that waste paper imports be shipped in container boxes instead of in bulk cargo.
"We are now reviewing the ruling," Singgih said in response to reporters' questions as to why the Attorney General's Office is involved in regulating waste paper imports, thereby increasing the costs of that material.
Singgih clarified that his office will maintain its responsibility for preventing the smuggling of pornography and ideologically dangerous information through waste paper imports.
Singgih's disclosure yesterday answered the puzzling questions about the costly red tape in waste paper importing and stopped the debate between several government offices over the issue.
An official of the industry ministry disclosed early this week that Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo had sent letters to the trade minister and the chief of the Environmental Management Agency asking them to free waste paper imports and to lift waste paper out of the classification of dangerous and toxic materials.
Tunky's letters were prompted by complaints from paper producers that the import costs of waste paper -- their main raw material -- are unusually high due to the requirement to ship waste paper in container boxes and to have the container boxes checked by officials of the trade and industry ministries and the Attorney General's Office.
The complaints have been expressed amid reports of the steep increase in the price of newsprint over the last few months.
However, Nabiel Makarim, deputy chief of the Environmental Management Agency, stated on Tuesday that his office had nothing to do with the ruling on the use of containers and had never classified waste paper among dangerous and toxic wastes.
Makarim added that any regulation of import procedures was the responsibility of the trade ministry.
Shipping
Minister of Trade Satrio B. Joedono said on a separate occasion yesterday that his office had never required waste paper imports to be shipped in container boxes.
"Why don't you ask the industry minister as to which ruling of my office has imposed such a requirement," Joedono told newsmen after he attended a seminar on power marketing yesterday.
He said he did not see any urgency in requiring waste paper imports to be shipped in container boxes.
"But I don't know who has imposed such a ruling. If such a regulation does exist, it should be revoked by the one who has issued it," Joedono added.
The trade minister was not the only one who did not know the source of the ruling. Tunky's letters to the trade minister and the Environmental Management Agency also disclosed uncertainty on the matter.
Joedono also said that the steep rise in the costs of waste paper imports has been caused mainly by the larger demand for that material.
The use of waste paper has dramatically increased as environmental rulings have forced many paper mills to decrease the use of wood pulp, Joedono added.
In a related development, Amirudin Saud, chairman of the Importers Association, said containerized cargo is 10 percent costlier than bulk cargo.
If waste paper imports are allowed to be shipped in bulk form, their shipment and handling costs will be lower than those in container boxes, Amirudin added. (vin)