The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) supports the steps taken by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) to tighten supervision at the Bonded Logistics Center (PLB) and industry in the Bonded Zone (KB).
This policy is considered a strategic step to reduce the rate of imports of illegal products that are flooding the domestic market.
"Alhamdulillah, we welcome the plan that the Director General of Customs and Excise (Askolani) will further tighten supervision at PLB and KB, especially PLB which has been widely suspected of being used as an entry route for cheap legal and illegal imported goods into Indonesia," said Ministry of Industry spokesman Febri Hendri Antoni Arif as quoted from his written statement, Thursday, May 22.
"We witnessed for ourselves how cheap imported products came from overproduction countries, were purchased through e-commerce platforms and could reach domestic buyers in no time. Some of these items are thought to have been in PLB warehouses," he continued.
Stricter supervision of PLB is needed because these imported goods do not meet Indonesia's National Standards (SNI) and other standards apply in Indonesia.
Imported goods through PLB are also not subject to the provisions of prohibition and restrictions (Lartas) or being a free item.
With the tightening of supervision of imported goods at PLB, it is hoped that it can stop the entry of these legal and illegal imported goods, so as not to interfere with the domestic industrial business climate.
"We are quite surprised by the statement by the Director General of Customs and Excise which states that PLB is intended to attract investment. In our interest, PLB actually reduces investor desire to invest in the domestic manufacturing industry, especially manufacturing investments outside the Bonded Zone," said Febri.
"If they can enter goods into imports, why should they invest in building industry in Indonesia? It's enough to import it through PLB. Maybe this makes the domestic industry depressed, eventually reduce production and even close factories that end up with layoffs," he added.
PLB itself is a warehouse or logistics facility that provides storage, packaging and delivery services, including manufacturing products with benefits in the form of convenience and tax relief.
Import goods that enter the PLB get facilities in the form of suspension of import duties and taxes in the context of imports (PDRI) as long as goods are not issued to the domestic market.
Meanwhile, KB is a special area that is regulated by certain customs provisions, used for export-import and goods processing activities.
The goal is to facilitate international trade activities, especially exports by providing convenience such as delays or exemption from import duties, value added tax (VAT) and other costs.
Bonded areas are basically areas containing various types of companies, especially industrial companies that receive import duty relief facilities and imports of raw materials and products should be exported.
According to Febri, his party has also long voiced the need for stricter supervision in the area to limit imported products.
The reason is, there are findings of a number of items leaving the Bonded Area which should be intended for export, instead being channeled to the domestic market.
So far, Febri said, goods that come out of the Bonded Area should be for export market purposes, but it turns out to be also into the domestic market.
Thus, this becomes unfair for industries outside the Bonded Area. Industry outside the Bonded Area does not get raw material import duty facilities, such as industries in the Bonded Area.
Therefore, he continued, it is only natural that industrial products in the Bonded Area are more competitive than industrial products outside the Bonded Area and aimed at the export market.
"They have already received zero percent import duty for raw materials, instead they are allowed to sell their products in the domestic market. Of course industrial products outside the Bonded Area are less competitive with these products," he said.
In addition, the Ministry of Industry has also proposed moving import entrances to eastern Indonesia, especially for certain commodities that have been produced domestically.
The transfer of the import entrance is expected to hinder the entry of domestically produced goods into the domestic market, so that domestic industries can be more protected. The proposed port areas include Bitung, North Sulawesi and Sorong, West Papua.
"The Ministry of Industry is active in continuing to coordinate with relevant ministries and institutions in an effort to encourage the synergy of supervision of imported goods in the domestic market. This step is important to create a healthy and fair business climate for the domestic industry," explained Febri.
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With tighter supervision in PLB and Bonded Areas, Febri hopes that the domestic industry will be more able to compete and meet the needs of the domestic market optimally.
"We are optimistic that if this policy, especially stricter supervision for PLB and the return of the function of the Bonded Area, can be carried out well, the performance of the manufacturing industry will rise even better to support national economic growth," he concluded.
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