Customs Receives 705 Complaints in 2023, Mostly Regarding Violations

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) received 705 public complaints throughout 2023.

The majority of complaints (188) concerned customs and excise violations. These included goods lacking import permits, containing pornography, exceeding customs duty exemptions, and other violations.

There were also 91 complaints related to information requests, 71 complaints regarding fraud perpetrated in the name of the DJBC, 64 complaints concerning employee conduct and service quality, 49 complaints regarding objections to import duty/tax assessments on shipped goods, and 242 other complaints.

Complaints from Social Media

Recently, the DJBC has also frequently received complaints from social media users.

For example, there were complaints about tens of millions of rupiah in fines for shoes ordered by consumers from abroad, the detention of migrant workers' belongings, and the detention of a shipment of Braille keyboards donated to a special needs school.

Most recently, celebrity Enzy Storia complained about her bag being held by the DJBC. Enzy did not redeem the bag because the tax was deemed more expensive than the product itself.

According to the DJBC's investigation, it was revealed that the bag was a gift sent to Enzy by an overseas merchant as compensation for a previous shipping error.

Because it was a gift, the sender declared a lower price than the actual value, while the DJBC assessed the item at its true value. As a result, the DJBC imposed a higher tax.