Customs Updates in Turkey for The Import of Various Goods

On 17 August 2017, the Council of Ministers enacted the Additional Decision to Import Regime Decision No. 10561 and the Additional Decision to Import Regime Decision No. 10580 (together referred to as “Decisions“). The Decisions set forth additional customs duties that shall be taken in respect to the imports of the goods falling under the CN codes that are listed in the List No. 2 attached to the Import Regime Decision enacted by the decision of the Council of Ministers dated 20.12.1995 and numbered 95/7606.

Indeed, it was decided by the Council of Ministers to enact those Decisions pursuant to the letters of the Ministry of Economy of 03 July 2017 (for the Decision No. 2017/10561) and of 17 July 2017 (for the Decision No. 2017/10580) and in accordance with Article 1 of the Law No. 1567 dated 20 February 1930 (Law regarding the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency), Article 2 of Law No. 474 dated 14 May 1964 (Law on Customs Tariff Schedule), Article 2 of the Law No. 3283 dated 06 May 1986 (Law on the Repeal of Customs Exemptions Granted by Certain Laws), Articles 16, 22 and 55 of the Law No. 4458 dated 27 October 1999 (Customs Law), and the Law No. 2976 dated 02 February 1984 (Foreign Trade Regulation Law).

The Decisions will be enforced by the Turkish Ministry of Economy and additional customs duties will be collected by the customs offices, separately from the customs duties taken in imports and any other financial obligations and it will be forfeited in national budget. Additionally, in implementing the Decisions, the importer is liable to correctly declare the origin of the goods.

According to the Decisions, additional customs duties for the goods in the attached table, which do not originate in the European Union or Turkey and are imported with A.TR movement certificate, will be taken at the rates indicated in the “Other Countries” column of the table. On the other hand, the cases where additional customs duty shall not be collected are clearly explained:

• additional customs duty within the scope of the Decisions will not be applied in cases where the goods are exported to the member states of the European Union with A.TR movement certificate under the customs surveillance through collection of duties on the basis of customs duty rates listed in the lists in the Import Regime Decision.
• the additional customs duty will not be taken in cases where the preferential origin of goods originating in the countries included into the diagonal cumulation of origin system is certified pursuant to the Free Trade Agreements of which Turkey is a party.
• additional customs duty will not be applicable in cases where the goods within the scope of the Decisions are also listed in the List No. 5 added to the Import Regime Decision.
• the goods listed in the additional table are imported within the framework of Inward Processing Regime and are exported as compensating goods, the provisions in the Decisions will not be applied in calculating the countervailing duty, if any.
• additional customs duty will not be applicable in cases where within 45 days from the publication of the Decisions, a customs declaration (bill of entry) is registered or a summary declaration is submitted in relation to imports of the goods – which have been freighted to be shipped to Turkey by the arrangement of a chatter paper.

Furthermore, in any case, the calculated total duty rate (the sum of the additional customs duties in the Decisions and in the List No. 2 which is attached to the Import Regime Decision and) will not exceed 50% increased levels stated under the Law on Customs Entry Tariff Schedule dated 15.05.1964 and numbered 474. In case it exceeds, the 50% increased level stated under the Law No. 474 will be applied.

Within this scope, please find below the tables which show the additional duty rates. The countries and groups of countries listed in the sub-columns of the column entitled “Additional Customs Duty Rate (%)” are those defined in the List No. 2 added to the Import Regime Decision. Any change made to the latter List No. 2 shall be valid for the application of the Decisions.

Table 1. Rates imposed by the Decision No. 2017/10561

Table 2. Rates imposed by the Decision No. 2017/10580

 Ertuğrul Can Canbolat, Mustafa Ayna and Hasan Güden