Indonesian government moves to curb illegal transhipment

The Indonesian Trade Ministry has cut the number of government offices responsible for issuing certificates of origin for exports by more than a half to 85 from 193 in a bid to curb illegal transhipment, Trade Ministry director general for foreign trade Diah Maulida announced.

"I have to admit that we have not monitored the implementation of the regulations made in 2006. We will fix this in 2007," she told reporters. "The first thing we will do is that we will annul a certification if it is proven that there is a misappropriation of it" she added. Diah explained that misappropriation of the certificate of origin has been going on a long time, but has attracted more EU and US attention recently.. Diah also said the government officials in charge of issuing certificate of origins could not tell whether goods to be shipped were produced by local companies or by foreign firms. "The competence of the government officials responsible for issuing certificate of origin had been weak. Therefore, the ministry will held trainings using syllabus adapted from those used in Europe," she added. "By January, we will have the complete result from the verifications and maybe some of violations sanctions. Those who do not comply in the verification will have their license rebuked," she said.