There has been a rise in rejections of Certificates of Origin (COOs) in Indonesia, particularly under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA). Indonesian Customs have increasingly strict requirements around the issuance and submission of COOs.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have advised us that they are discussing these challenges with Indonesian officials directly. In the meantime, the below actions can help Queensland exporters mitigate some of the common challenges.

Firstly, under AANZFTA and the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), a COO must be issued within three working days of sailing date, or the relevant box in the COO must be ticked as ‘issued retroactively’. Indonesian customs do not accept an unticked box that should have been ticked, despite this being a minor error.

When issuing COOs for Indonesia, ensure you are aware of these timeframes and the sailing date. If the sailing date is past the three working day timeframe (or is likely to be), take the necessary steps to ensure that the relevant box on the COO is ticked prior to submission to Business Chamber Queensland, or the COO may be rejected.

Indonesia does not have post importation refunds and is unable to accept replacement COOs that have a different certificate number to the original COO. Therefore, if the COO is rejected due to this issue, there is no option available to resubmit it and resulting duties may be applied. 

Secondly, Indonesian importers must submit the COO at the time of importation, otherwise the COO will be rejected for not being submitted within submitting the specified timeframe in Indonesian domestic legislation. Please note the timeframe is 3 calendar days, not 3 working days. Ensure you communicate to your importer to submit the COO at the time of importation.

If you require assistance with COOs under AANZFTA and IA-CEPA, reach out to our International Trade team at [email protected] or on 1800 014 123