Indonesian Audit Watch proposes National Border Economic Governance System

Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) has proposed the development of the National Border Economic Governance System (NBEGS) to integrate the processes of goods transit at Indonesia's economic gateways. The proposal aims to address current fragmentation where various agencies, such as Customs, quarantine, and technical ministries, operate through separate channels.

According to IAW Founding Secretary Iskandar Sitorus, the NBEGS is not intended to be a new agency that takes over the authority of existing ministries and institutions. Instead, it is designed as a national governance framework to connect data, decisions, risks, services, supervision, and accountability across all involved agencies.

The proposed system is built on several key principles: ‘single submission’, allowing businesses to provide one set of data for use by multiple agencies; the ‘once-only principle’, ensuring the state does not repeatedly request the same information; and ‘risk-based intervention’, which focuses inspections on specific transactions and goods.