Event Reports

EuroCham along with few representatives from other associations and government agencies were invited to a Focus Group Discussion by the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs on 21 June 2019. The purpose of the meeting is to collect inputs and jointly discuss efforts for the development of logistics systems that would support export of Indonesian products in the framework of blue print on national logistics systems. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Raden Pardede as a Senior Policy Advisor for the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, along with Mr. Erwin Raza, Assistant Deputy for Logistics. Notably contributed to the discussion were sectoral associations for palm oil and cocoa commodities, port operators, as well as representatives from the DG Customs. EuroCham in this meeting was represented by the leaders of the Import-Export Procedures Working Group and the Transport and Logistics Working Group.

The group met on 21 June 2019 to share and coordinate advocacy efforts conducted on taxation, customs, and cross-border procedures relevant to the sector. On taxation, the group maintains close engagement with the Ministry of Finance and Directorate General of Tax to monitor the development of application of zero percent vat based on Regulation No. 32/2019, development of draft regulations on tax incentives for vocational training and R&D, as well as longstanding taxation issues in the sector such as the administrative burden that come from the collection of withholding tax. The group is monitoring several draft regulations currently being developed by the Customs, as well as shared latest updates in the practice of obligation to submit Certificate of Origin, and Cargo Manifest to the Customs.

The group ended the meeting with an election of a new Deputy Head. The meeting agreed to elect Mr. Michael Herrmann (Managing Director of GEODIS) who will be active leading advocacy efforts on Education and Vocational Training issues in the sector.