Trade Ministry Confiscates Steel Imports Failing to Meet National Standards

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Trade Ministry’s directorate general of consumer protection and commerce (PKTN) has temporarily confiscated steel products worth Rp41.68 billion that allegedly do not meet the national standard and requirements overseen by SNI regulations. 

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Tuesday said that the confiscation was conducted based on information on imports of zinc plated steel (BjLS) and galvanized steel coils with aluminum-zinc alloy (BjLAS) that are made in China. They also received information that these products fail to meet the required technical quality.

“After they were tested, the products were found to not meet SNI requirements under SNI 07-2053-2006 and SNI 4096:2007. The steel products that were secured weighed 2,128 tons with a value of Rp41.68 billion,” Zulkifli Hasan said in a press release on August 9.

The problematic imported products were found in companies located in Serang Regency, Banten, and Surabaya, East Java. He insisted that the temporary security measure was taken as an early preventive measure to minimize losses at the consumer level, especially in the aspects of safety, security, consumer health, and the environment.

This series of imports, according to the Minister, can potentially violate Law No.8/1999 overseeing consumers protection, Law No.7/2014 overseeing trade, and Trade Minister’s Regulation No.69/2018 regarding the supervision of circulated goods or services. 

"All violations that occur will be taken into law based on applicable provisions. This is evidence that the Trade Ministry continues to protect the domestic industry and Indonesian consumers," he added.

ARRIJAL RACHMAN 

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News