Indonesia Asks EU To Cut Import Tariffs On Tuna

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

27 October 2009

Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has asked the European Commission to reduce import duties on tuna products from Indonesia to the European Union (EU).

The present import tariffs for tuna products exported from Indonesia to the EU are too high for fresh tuna (at 14.5%) and canned tuna (24%), the Indonesian authorities have argued.

Furthermore, the import duties applied on tuna products into EU from Indonesia could also be considered to be discriminatory, when they are compared to other exporting countries on which the imposed tariffs are much lower, according to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. The EU applies zero tariffs on tuna imports from some member countries of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of states.

Indonesian exporters are also concerned about the length of time taken in relation to border controls checking the heavy metal content which, on Indonesian fresh and frozen tuna, takes an average of three days.

While as a relatively new tuna exporter to the EU, Indonesia's exports are still under strict scrutiny, the testing period is much longer than for other countries like Sri Lanka, where the procedure is only three hours.

These concerns have been relayed to the latest European-Indonesia Business Dialogue, which has agreed to establish a task force with government representatives and businessmen from both sides to address the above matters. .

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