Freeport Plans To Appeal, Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Ensures No Revision Of Rules

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif opened his voice about the appeal plan to be submitted by PT Freeport Indonesia regarding exit duties.

Arifin ensured that the government would not revise the Regulation of the Minister of Finance (PMK) No. 71/2023 concerning the Determination of Export Goods Subject to Exit Fees and Exit Fees.

"No (revision)," said Arifin briefly when met by media crews at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Friday, August 11.

Arifin ensured that his party would follow up on PT Freeport's objection to the regulation.

"He (Freeport) can make an appeal (compar) effort, we will not follow up the process later," continued Arifin.

On a separate occasion, the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu explained that the PMK was in accordance with the applicable mechanism.," he said, Friday, August 11.

Febrio explained that PMK 71 is relevant to Government Regulation (PP) Number 37 related to Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) and taxation for mining/ mineral businesses.

"This is in line with the Minerba Law. In PP 37 it is stated that the types of state revenues that follow the laws and regulations are called prevailing and are permanent, for a certain period it is regulated," he said.

It was previously reported that Freepot Indonesia had been granted an export permit on July 24, 2023 to export 1.7 million metric tons of copper concentrate.

Freeport also said that the export obligations that had been carried out so far referred to the licensing of Special Mining Business Permits (IUPK) agreed to PMK No. 164 of 2018 which stated that there was no obligation or imposition of duties if the development of the smelter project had reached 50 percent.

Meanwhile, in the new regulations, the government will continue to impose mandatory exit duties with a tariff of 5 to 10 percent.

PTFI's VP of Corporate Communications, Katri Krisnati said that in the process of implementing Customs and Exit, it is known that the mechanism for filing objections and appeals to the calculation of the determination of Exit Customs is a forum in order to realize objective and accurate customs policies.

According to Katri, it is natural for every business actor to take the mechanism for objections and appeals if there is a difference in views between the customs authority and the business actors concerned in implementing customs regulations.

"In connection with the above context, we understand the possibility of filing objections and appeals, but we still hope that the Government will always implement the provisions of the Import Duty for PTFI in accordance with the IUPK which has been mutually approved," concluded Katri.