What Are Red, Yellow, Green and Main Partners of Customs Channels?

The customs law authorises the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGCE) to inspect imported goods. The inspection is carried out to obtain import data, assess documents and physical goods and assess importers’ compliance.

Pursuant to Article 3 paragraph (2) of the Customs Law, customs inspection of imported goods is carried out by document examination and physical inspection of goods.

Channel Classification
Imported goods must be inspected selectively, among others, with the determination of red, yellow, green and Main Partners of Customs channels. As such, what exactly are red, yellow, green and Main Partners of Customs channels in customs inspections?

Channels for the release of imported goods are determined based on the profile of the importer/imported goods commodities. The importer’s profile is compiled by the prevention section. On other hand, the commodity profile is compiled based on the development of the imports of types of goods subject to substantial violations.

The integration of the importer’s profile and the commodity profile further results in the determination of channels for imported goods. As per the official webpage of the Ministry of Finance, the channels of imported goods are classified into 4.

First, the red channel is the service and supervision mechanism of the release of imported goods by conducting a physical inspection and document examination before the issuance of the Release Order.

The red channel is determined based on several criteria, including new importers, importers/imported goods included in the high-risk category, temporarily imported goods, re-imported goods, subject to random inspection and certain imported goods determined by the government.

Second, the yellow channel is the service and supervision mechanism of the release of imported goods by not conducting a physical inspection. However, these imported goods remain subject to document examination before the issuance of the Release Order.

The yellow channel determined if high-risk importers import low-risk commodities, medium-risk importers import medium-risk commodities or non-priority Main Partners of Customs import high-risk commodities.

The yellow channel may also be determined in the event of inadequate customs declaration documents and the complementary documents and the importers have not fulfiled other administrative requirements.

Third, the green channel is the service and supervision mechanism of the release of imported goods without a physical inspection. Nevertheless, document examination will be carried out after the issuance of the Release Order.

The green channel is determined if medium-risk importers import low-risk goods, low-risk importers import low- or medium-risk goods. The green channel may also be determined if the importer or imported goods do not fall within the criteria of the yellow and red channels.

Fourth, the Main Partners of Customs channel or priority channel. This channel is intended for Main Partners of Customs, namely importers selected and appointed by the Technical Director of Customs on behalf of the Director General of Customs and Excise. These Main Partners of Customs channels are reclassified into two types, namely priority and non-priority Main Partners of Customs channels.

The priority and non-priority Main Partners of Customs channels are both the service and supervision mechanism of the release of imported goods with direct issuance of the Release Order without a physical inspection and document examination. Importers included in these channels are determined by the government.

The difference between the two is that specifically for importers of non-priority Main Partners of Customs channels, inspections will continue to be carried out for re-imported goods, goods subject to a random inspection, high-risk goods and temporarily imported goods.

Conclusion
In essence, customs inspections are carried out taking into account the risk level inherent in importers and goods. The risk level is assessed based on the importer and commodity profiles and ultimately results in the determination of the channels.

The channels are classified into 4 groups, namely the red, yellow, green and Main Partners of Customs channels. The difference between the four types of channels lies in the presence or absence of physical inspections and document examination on imported goods.