TÜRKİYE, THE RIGHT PLACE FOR MANUFACTURING
With the election of Donald J. Trump as the 51st President of the United States, tariffs on products imported from abroad have been more prominent than ever. Contrary to the common belief, the European Union does not stay passive in this situation. Similar to the USA and, to a certain extent, in the People’s Republic of China, the aim is protecting industries and even encourage reindustrialization.
And of course, in Türkiye, since 1 January 1996, due to customs union between Türkiye and the European Union (EU), Türkiye has participated in this trend by increasing tariffs on imported products from other countries outside of EU, apart from those coming from the EU members. We have a recent example with an additional customs duty (İGV standing for İlave Gümrük Vergisi or Additional Customs Duty) of 15% adopted by the Republic of Türkiye with effect on 1st January 2025 on ice cream wooden stick, whose Customs Tariff Statistics Position (“CTSP”) changed, with effect as from 1st January 2025, from 4421.99.90.00.19 to 4419.20.90.90.11 for tropical woods and to 4419.90.00.90.11 for the other woods (hereafter referred to as the “Products”).This additional customs tariff has been adopted for the Products (CTSP: 4419.90.00.90.11) with decision numbered 9392, published in its Official Gazette number 32769 (3rd Repeated Issue) dated 31 December 2024.
Additional Customs Duty (“ACD”) is a tax collected separately from goods subject to customs duty in addition to customs duty. In practice, ACD is imposed to protect local products against imported products and to provide support to certain domestic sectors.
The same new CTSP includes also wooden tea coffee mixers, however, the latter are not concerned by the additional customs duty. These products are just subject for the moment to a surveillance measure, which may anticipate any additional customs tariffs.
This additional customs duty of 15% is over the net value of each of the Products and applies to the Products imported to the territory of the Republic of Türkiye except if the Products come from the EU with an ATR circulation certificate.
This increase of tariffs shall clearly accelerate the need for Turkish and foreign capital companies manufacturing in Türkiye to be competitive and to increase their industrial capacities.
As recently stated by the Türkiye Investment Office, “catch up with Türkiye’s growth”.
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