For foreign trade personnel who have exported to Indonesia, they may have heard of a term that makes them turn pale with fear – the “red – light period for customs clearance.” This year’s situation is particularly severe. Indonesia has destroyed illegally imported goods multiple times throughout the year, covering various fields such as clothing, textiles, electronic products, and ceramics.

In Indonesia, customs are divided into red – light customs and green – light customs. The red – light period is actually a policy implemented by Indonesia to protect local enterprises. When a certain type of exported goods is classified into the red – light category, the Indonesian customs will conduct strict inspections on the goods of the exporting enterprise to safeguard the interests of domestic similar production enterprises. In such cases, it is not uncommon for goods to be detained at customs for several months. The red – light period usually occurs from December of each year to March of the following year.

During this time, the Indonesian customs, in conjunction with other law – enforcement departments, will conduct more rigorous inspections on import customs clearance. Compared with normal times, the customs clearance procedures will be more cumbersome and take longer. If the operation is improper, additional costs may also be incurred. Especially for enterprises with red licenses, their goods will be inspected almost 100%. This year’s situation is particularly severe. Indonesia has destroyed illegally imported goods multiple times throughout the year, covering various fields such as clothing, textiles, electronic products, and ceramics.

This is mainly because the Indonesian side has found that there are huge differences between the BPS data of imported textiles, clothing accessories, ceramics, electronic products, cosmetics, footwear, and other textile finished products and the data of the country of origin. The value recorded by the country of origin is as high as 116 million. In June, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade announced that it would impose safeguard duties of 100% to 200% on imported products such as footwear and ceramics to restart the plan to protect domestic industries. In July, Indonesia officially established a special task force to rectify illegal imports. The types of goods it monitors include textiles, electronic products, footwear, clothing, ceramics, and beauty or cosmetic products. The Indonesian authorities said that the flooding of these illegal imported products in Indonesia has led to a huge trade deficit.

In October, the Indonesian Ministry of Industry announced the implementation of mandatory Indonesian National Standards (SNI) for 16 industrial products to ensure product safety, health, and environmental compliance. These products include prestressed steel wires, valves, tiles, safety shoes, etc. According to relevant practitioners, currently all ports in Indonesia have entered the “red – light” state, and various terminals and warehouses are successively undergoing unprecedentedly strict inspections.