This post in the Baker McKenzie Import and Trade Remedies Blog outlines recent customs developments in Turkey. The developments include: the amendment to the Customs Regulations on 30 December 2021, the ratification of the Decision of the EU-Common Transit Countries (CTC) Joint Committee amending the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure, the amendment of the Turkish Import Regime Decision and the Decision Regarding the Application of Additional Customs Duty on Imports, amendment to the Decision Regarding the Application of Additional Customs Duty on Imports, and new communiqués published for 2022.
On 5 November 2021, Turkish Ministry of Trade amended the Customs Regulation. The amendments specify the cases where proof of origin is not required and introduce additional period for the subsequent submission of documents evidencing the origin of the goods.
On September 24, 2021 Turkish Ministry of Trade amended the Customs Regulation (“Regulation“). The amendments to the Regulation introduced a simplified procedure of “permitted consignor authorization” for transit regimes and clarified the scope of the crimes relevant persons must not have a final conviction of to open a temporary storage site or a bonded warehouse. The Ministry of Trade also regulated the transition process regarding permitted consignor authorization and site authorizations granted prior to the subject amendment within the scope of the Regulation on Facilitation of Customs Procedures.
On June 16, 2021, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register a final rule [CBP Dec. 21-09] that amends the CBP regulations to reflect the imposition of import restrictions on certain categories of archaeological and ethnological material from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey).
The Turkish Medicine and Medical Devices Authority (TİTCK) published a critical announcement covering the topic of new practices for the registration and evaluation process of medical devices post-Brexit.
The Turkish Medicine and Medical Devices Authority (TİTCK) published two announcements covering critical topics on certain procedures concerning the Product Tracking System (ÜTS).
On 28 April 2021, the Turkish Medicine and Medical Devices Authority (TİTCK) announced the suspension of product promotion representatives’ visits to pharmacies and health organizations during the full lockdown as part of the measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Turkish Medicine and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) published the Application Guidelines for Electronic Scientific Meetings and Electronic Product Promotion Meetings (Guidelines) based on the Regulation on Promotion of Pharmaceuticals (Regulation). The Guidelines provide detailed explanations on electronic applications made to the TİTCK by relevant companies (e.g. marketing authorization holders) for scientific meetings and electronic product promotion meetings.
Further to the amendments to the Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette No. 30887 on 13 September 2019, “biocidal products that directly come in contact with the human body (Product Type-1 and Product Type-19)” are now under the governance and supervision of the TİTCK. The licensing of biocidal products will be handled by the Cosmetic Products Department under the TİTCK. Accordingly, the TİTCK added ‘biocidal’ under the “Activity Areas” on its official website. The TİTCK’s announcement is available here (in Turkish).
On 3 April 2020, the Turkish Medicine and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) announced that as part of COVID-19 measures, readability tests, which are necessary for the authorization of pharmaceuticals, may be submitted later, before the sales permit application.