Customs and Excise Calling for Improvement on Importer’s Permit

Anton Aprianto, RR Ariyani, TEMPO Interactive - 2007-04-03 14:46

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta, 03 April, 2007 (TEMPO Interactive) - Directorate General of Customs and Excises at the Department of Finance is asking the Department of Trade to improve permit issuance for importers to Indonesia. So far, the importer's permit has been so lax that the potentials of smuggling and state injury grow larger.

According Director General of Customs and Excises Anwar Suprijadi, the request refers to the many high-risk- category importers who manipulate the customs services.

“I have coordinated with the Department of Trade to handle this permit matter properly,” he said during a coordinating meeting of Domestic Market Protection at the Department of Trade building, yesterday (04/02) in Jakarta.

He stated that of 14,515 listed importers, 6,202 of them, or 42.37 percent, were categorized as high-risk importers; 2,900 of them (19.98 percent) as medium-risk; and 5,413 (37.29) as low-risk. “Sometimes, importers violate customs' facilities.”

As for medium- and low-risk importers, Anwar gave a green light for them to be granted customs facilities such as priority and green belt. “To make it fair, we will treat the good importers well and vice versa,” he said.

However, the high risk importers will benefit by the too-simple permit issuance. Should they be given sanctions by customs and excise, importers could easily propose a new permit .