Medical equipment manufacturers call for tax cuts on imported raw materials – Regulations

The Indonesian Medical Equipment Manufacturers Association (Aspaki) has called on the government to reduce taxes on imported raw materials for medical devices as prices for domestically produced equipment continue to rise.

Aspaki Secretary General Cristina Sandjaja said the high cost of importing raw materials needed to produce medical devices makes the domestic industry so uncompetitive that it is cheaper to import finished products.

“We have repeatedly conveyed to the government the idea of reducing taxes on imported raw materials,” she said on Tuesday, as quoted by Business.com.

For example, Chinese nylon products with Harmonized System (HS) codes 59032000 and 59039090 were subject to a 10 percent import duty, as well as technical approval (Pertek) and import permit (PI) requirements, Cristina explained.

In comparison, she added, the government imposed only a 5 percent tax on finished goods imported from China under HS code 90189090.

“We propose that the import tax (on raw materials) be lower than on finished products,” Cristina said, expressing hope that the government will tighten supervision of e-commerce platforms to detect illegally distributed medical devices.

Also read: Rising healthcare costs lead to increased health insurance claims

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