Import activity can be considered as ordinary sales process between sellers who are located overseas and domestic buyers. As for the import stage are stated as follows.
- Buyer must open an account to a domestic Foreign Exchange Bank which provides export-import services. The bank will issue a Letter of Credit (L/C) for importer, so we will say the Bank as Issuing Bank. L/C use to guarantee that the buyer will pay some amount of money for the goods.
- The seller also has to open an account at a Bank at their home country. The Bank will help the exporter regarding payments and documents related to the delivery of goods and specification of goods, such as Bill of Lading (B/L) and invoices, so we will say the bank as Correspondent Bank.
- These documents will be sent by Correspondent Bank to the Issuing Bank. Meanwhile, exporter may ship the goods since the delivery will took days/weeks to destination.
- Imported goods are transported by international cargo ships and will only be docked at the government official ports. Some documents have to report to Customs Office and needed approval before unloading containers. The meaning of term “decommissioning” was not unloading the goods at the opening of each package, but it’s just a term expenditure container / transport containers from the port facilities. Once the imported goods unloaded, it will stay temporary at landfill site/container yard. Please note that storing the goods in the region is subject to lease for the use of space (container demurrage). Customs Officer will not open the containers unless there’s a command to check.
- After the Issuing Bank receives the documents from Correspondent Bank, the importer must take these documents (B/L, Certificate of Origin, invoices) with the payment of L / C. The importer must pay for these documents because the Correspodent Bank has already paid the eksporter.
- Importer is required to make Notification of Imported Goods (PIB). The Issuing Bank will help the importer to prepare all documents and submit it through Customs Office by online.
- After paying all tax (import tax, import duty) through Issuing Bank, importer can take the goods.
