Indonesia overcharging on Japanese car imports - Nikkei
Reuters | Wed Apr 17, 2013
Indonesia overcharging on Japanese car imports - Nikkei
(Reuters) — Indonesia has not reduced its import duties on certain Japanese cars as required under a trade agreement between the two countries, the Nikkei said.
As per the agreement, Indonesia was required to reduce tariff to 20 percent from January on Japanese cars with an engine displacement of between 1.5 liters and 3 liters. However, a 28.1 percent tariff is still in effect, the Japanese daily said.
The Japanese government plans to bring up the issue with Indonesia during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s trade ministers’ meeting, which will be held over the weekend in Surabbaya, Indonesia, the paper said.
Japanese carmakers brought the issue to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in January. Since then, the Indonesian government has acknowledged the higher tariff, and called it a mistake, but no changes have been made, the Nikkei said.
If the tariffs are not reduced, Japan might file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, the Japanese business newspaper said.
Japan exported 28,669 small and mid-sized cars in 2012, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. If the numbers are similar, the extra charges could cost Japanese automakers as much as 2 billion yen ($21 million) in 2013, the Nikkei said.
The bilateral economic partnership agreement, which has been in effect since July 2008, requires Indonesia to further reduce tariffs on Japanese cars of the appropriate engine size to 5 percent in 2016, the Nikkei said. ($1 = 97.5850 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Tej Sapru in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
