Director General of Custom and Excise has recently issued Regulation Number 01/BC/2005 Year 2005 concerning the management of entry or exit of cash from Indonesia. The Regulation obliges individuals entering or exiting Indonesia by carrying IDR 100 million (or its equivalents in foreign currencies) of cash to report to custom officials.

The Regulation has been created to implement the provisions of Law No. 10 Year 1995 concerning Custom, Law No. 23 Year 1999 concerning the Central Bank, and Law Number 15 Year 2002 on Money Laundering.

Custom officials will provide certain forms to declare the entrance or exit of IDR 100 million cash (or its equivalents in foreign currency) to passengers. If the cash to be exited is in Rupiah currency the Regulation requires a prior permission from Bank Indonesia. All cash in Rupiah currency worth IDR 100 million shall be reported to the custom official for to examine possible money counterfeit.

Should suspicion of money counterfeit occurred, the custom official in charge must notify the central bank and relevant investigators. Custom officials must inform the head of Center for Reporting and Analysis of Financial Transaction, an authority established under Money Laundering Law should it finds any occurrence of entrance or exit of IDR 100 million (or its equivalents in foreign currency) cash from Indonesian custom zone, or a failure to declare such situation by the passenger.

In determining the equivalent of IDR 100 million to foreign currency, vice versa, the Regulation refers to the day-to-day exchange rate as stipulated by the Minister of Finance. Breach of this provision entails criminal sanction and fines. (mma)