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Customs, excise office wages war against IPR violations
The issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) has become an important one in the eyes of the government, given the fast-paced environment of free trade coupled with the increase of trade agreements in which the country is involved.
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he issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) has become an important one in the eyes of the government, given the fast-paced environment of free trade coupled with the increase of trade agreements in which the country is involved. As a commitment to controlling the import and export of goods resulting from IPR violations, the government, through the Customs and Excise Directorate General, has published several policies to protect IPR, including Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 40/2018.
The aforementioned regulation gives the customs and excise office the authority to confiscate goods that are suspected of violating IPR rules based on trademarks and copyrights, especially those that are recorded in the system.
"With this regulation, it is hoped that customs supervision of IPRs will be more effective so that we can remove Indonesia from the Priority Watch List [PWL], which is a list of countries that according to the United States Trade Representative [USTR] is considered not as serious in protecting and preventing goods suspected of violating IPR" said Hatta Wardhana, the Customs and Excise Directorate General’s head of public relations and customs counseling.
Indonesia has a large trading market, attracting producers to produce and trade their products, including counterfeit products. According to a study on the “Impact of Counterfeiting on the Economy in 2020” by the Indonesian Anti-Counterfeiting Society (MIAP), the value of counterfeit goods circulating among consumers in 2020 reached Rp 148.8 billion (US$10.33 million), with a total opportunity loss of Rp 291 trillion. The figure is an increase of 347 percent since 2015.
"The public needs to realize the importance of protecting IPR. Until now, there are 25 IPRs that have been registered in DJBC [Directorate General of Customs and Excise] and we still need to increase this number. So, as part of World IPR Day, which falls today [Tuesday], the customs and excise office continues to urge the public, especially the owners or holders of IPRs, to participate in the enforcement of IPR regulations. The trick is to register IPR goods in the form of trademarks and copyrights in the customs and excise record system," Hatta said.
IPRs must be submitted to the Customs and Excise Directorate General through a record system called CEISA HKI, which can be found on customer.beacukai.go.id. The application will then be accepted or denied after a data validation process is carried out by the Intellectual Property Directorate General and the fulfillment of requirements stipulated in Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 40/2018.
"Currently, the recording is carried out by the Transnational Crime, Enforcement and Investigation Subdirectorate. Apart from the registration, which is free of charge, it can also be done online. The enforcement of intellectual property done by DJBC is also a form of government support for the intellectual property-based creative economy," Hatta said.
He further explained that the database of records registered by owners or holders will be utilized by Customs to supervise imported and exported goods suspected of violating IPR. The supervision can be carried out through data collection and intelligence information, the physical inspection of goods, or documents.
However, if the owner of an IPR has not yet submitted an application and comes across a violation, they can file a report to the chairman of the commercial court to issue an order for a temporary suspension of the release of imported or exported goods at the border. In the span of two years starting in 2019, the customs and excise office has deterred three occasions of imported goods that have been proven to violate IPR rules.
"We discovered two violations connected to the Standarpen brand of pens at Tanjung Perak Port in 2019 and 2021, then one violation of the Gillette brand of razors at Tanjung Emas Port in 2020," Hatta detailed.
The office has doubled its efforts by collaborating in an Operational Task Force for the Protection and Law Enforcement Program in the Intellectual Property Sector with the DJKI as the leading sector, along with the National Police, the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency, the Communications and Information Technology, the Foreign Ministry, the Trade Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry.
"Through this collaboration, the customs and excise office continue to strive to eradicate the threat of transnational crimes, including those connected to IPRs, in order to create a more effective Indonesian investment climate and encourage national economic growth," Hatta said.
