Mineral Export Restriction Hampers Miners
21 January 2014 06:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Deputy Chairman of Indonesia Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Natsir Mansyur, suggested that the new regulation on mineral export has hindered the business community. Based on supporting regulations, bans on raw mineral export add more complexities to bureaucracy. “It’s highly inefficient and ineffective,” he said to Tempo on Sunday.
Natsir was referring to the Minister of Trade’s Regulation Number 4/2014, which requires mineral exporters to have several types of permits. According to the regulation, mineral miners have to be registered at the Ministry of Trade as registered exporters (ET). Refined mineral exporters also have to obtain a special permit from the Ministry of Trade and a recommendation from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. “Such recommendation demands various requirements,” he said.
Miners still need to pass verification from surveyors who check the correspondence of goods and their documents at ports. After the long process, the final clearance is by Customs and Excise officials. “Why don’t we just wrap them up in one go?” he said. While the business community is supporting the government’s effort to ban raw mineral export, the government chose an ineffective way to issue the export permits. “The government must be clear. They said [mineral export] is allowed, but they’ve made it difficult.”
Last week, the Ministry of Trade put a regulation into effect, requiring miners to have ET status. The regulation, issued on January 2, aims to encourage miners to process and refine mineral commodities, based on restrictions by the Ministry of Energy. New miners who have just attained processing stage or lower must obtain a recommendation from the Ministry of Energy.
Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Bachrul Chairi, told Tempo that the regulation will provide different treatment to miners who have processed and refined their commodities. “The point is: ore exports are prohibited,” he said.
PINGIT ARIA