Along with the development of the times and the law and the advancement of technology, entrepreneurs understand very well that boundaries between countries can be said to be "disappearing", we usually know as globalization. Globalization that is taking place must be accepted by all countries with various cultural backgrounds, regardless of whether the people in a country are ready to face it. However, globalization turns out to have a positive impact on business actors, who in this paper are trading business actors between countries or also known as exports and imports.
Black Law's Dictionary states the meaning of the word at export is to send, take, or carry (a good commodity) out of the country; to transport (merchandise) from one country to another in the course of trade and the meaning of the word import yaitu the process or activity of bringing foreign goods into a country. Meanwhile, according to Law number 7 of 2014 concerning Trade, the definition of export is the activity of removing goods from the customs area, while import means the activity of bringing goods into the customs area.
Meanwhile, the Customs Area is the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia which includes land, waters and air space above it, as well as certain places in the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf where the Customs Law applies. A party carrying out export activities is called an exporter, while a party carrying out import activities is called an importer.
In accordance with the Trade Law, exporters and importers can be individuals, institutions, or business entities, both in the form of legal entities and non-legal entities. Apart from exporters and importers, there are still many parties involved in export-import activities, namely:
- Banks or other financial institutions that function as facilitators;
- Insurance, as a party to guarantee risk;
- Shipping or airline;
- EMKL (Freight Forwarding), marine cargo expedition, which bridges exporters with shipping in terms of transportation and export documentation;
- Customs Service Management Entrepreneurs (PPJK);
- Customs as the gate for the entry and exit of goods;
- Surveyor, as a survey institution if needed;
- Relevant government departments, for manufacture certificate of origin and legalization of required documents;
- Consulates, for legalization to certain countries; and
- Other certification bodies.
Indonesia's strategic location in the trade route makes Indonesia an active country in exporting and importing. However, not a few export activities carried out by Indonesian business actors and BUMN are involved in problems such as illegal exports. For example, the illegal tin export case, which was discussed some time ago, where Indonesia was estimated to have lost 362,750 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. loss of potential corporate income tax for tin exports due to illegal exports of the soft metal material for this tin.
In addition to export cases, there are still many cases in import activities, for example cases of illegal beef imports recorded until the end of 2016 alone there have been 42 cases of illegal beef imports which resulted in the state experiencing losses in monetary, administrative and fiscal terms. Importing countries often falsify import documents. In June 2016, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise secured 163 tons of beef offal imported from Australia, where the document says that the beef is animal feed, things like this are usually done by importers who do not have a permit, so the importers falsify the import documents so that can enter Indonesia.
Various legal violations committed by business actors, both detrimental to state finances and other violations, of course, can bring losses quite significant, starting from the damage / deterioration of the reputation and good name of the business actor (black-listed) to criminal sanctions, for example, sanctions against falsification of import documents as described in the above case have been regulated in Article 108 of Law Number 17 of 2006 concerning Customs which states that everyone:
- Submit fake or falsified customs declarations and / or complementary customs documents;
- Create, approve, or participate in falsifying data into books or records
,convicted with a minimum imprisonment of 2 (two) years and a maximum imprisonment of 8 (eight) years and / or a minimum of Rp. 100.000.000,00 (one hundred million rupiah) and a maximum of Rp. 5.000.000.000,00 (five billion rupiah).
In addition, the large number of parties associated with this export-import activity certainly requires business actors to understand the applicable laws and regulations and be more careful in carrying out their business activities starting from the aspects of business contracts with export-import partners and with distributors. aspects of transportation or transportation, aspects of insurance protection for export-import products, aspects of trade which include protection for consumers who buy exported / imported goods, and aspects of taxation as well as obligations / responsibilities to the Government and the environment. Having a personal lawyer / lawyer as qualified and dedicated legal advisors will certainly greatly help develop business for exporters and importers.
Some of the questions that commonly arise among export-import business actors include:
- If there is a dispute between business actors from different countries, then which law will be used as a solution? Is there an international law that regulates the provisions?
- Who is responsible for the losses suffered by export / import business actors when an accident occurs during the transportation of exported / imported goods which causes the destruction of the goods, either partially or completely? And are there any exceptions to the tax obligations?
- Are import business actors protected from changes in customs tariffs when tariff increases are sudden and detrimental to the business actor?
- Do exports / imports of luxury goods fall into a special commodity category and what are the regulatory differences compared to commodities in general?
- To whom does the community ask for accountability and compensation when the business actor's environment is damaged? Is it against the government or businessmen? ... and many other questions ...
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