Importers registration

The Minister of Finance on 5 October 2007 issued Regulation No. 124/PMK.04/2007 regarding Importers Registration (the “Regulation”). The Regulation is the implementing regulation of Article 6A of Law No. 10 of 1995 regarding Customs Matters (as amended), which requires importers to register themselves and obtain a Customs Identification Number (Nomor Identitas Kepabeanan / NIK). For the registration, importers must submit an electronic application to the Director General of Customs and Excise. An appointed customs officer will then conduct an administrative verification and where necessary also a field examination on the applicant to verify the applicant’s existence, management, type of business, and administrative due diligence. The Director General must either approve or reject the application within 30 working days as of the completion of the verification. If an application is approved, the applicant is issued an NIK. Customs officers may be assigned from time to time to conduct periodic supervisory inspections on the importers. Importers that are found to have not been conducting import activities for 12 continuous months or are violating their administrative obligations may have their NIK frozen or cancelled. The NIK cancellation sanction may also be imposed on importers that committed criminal violations. Failure to remedy the situation that prompted the freezing of an NIK after a period of 3 months will also result in the cancellation of the NIK.