Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa plans to strengthen regulations prohibiting the import of used clothing in bales. In the future, importers of used clothing will face additional penalties in the form of fines.
Purbaya explained that until now, law enforcement against such practices has only involved the destruction of goods and criminal penalties for the perpetrators. Purbaya considers this tends to harm the government because the state must spend money on its execution.
“I just learned about the term ‘balpres’. Importing used clothing items, how is it handled? Apparently, until now it could only be destroyed and the importer goes to prison, I don’t get any money, (the perpetrator) is not fined. So I lose, only spending costs to destroy the goods, plus feeding those people in prison,” said Purbaya when met at the Ministry of Finance office in Central Jakarta.
Not only that, Purbaya stated that in the future, perpetrators importing used clothing bales will be blacklisted by the government. This means the concerned parties can no longer engage in import activities. According to him, the government already knows the names of used clothing import players.
“It seems they already know, we already know who the players are. I forgot earlier, if someone has done ‘balpres’, I will blacklist them, they cannot import anymore,” emphasized Purbaya.
The prohibition on importing used clothing is actually regulated in Trade Minister Regulation Number 40 of 2022 concerning Amendments to Trade Minister Regulation Number 18 of 2021 concerning Prohibited Export Goods and Prohibited Import Goods, and the Law is Number 7 of 2014 concerning Trade.
For information, today Purbaya conducted an inspection at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise Headquarters Office to review the monitoring system there. The issue of used clothing imports was one of the topics discussed by Purbaya and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise.
