Turkey maintains a transparent and open foreign trade regime. The introduction of Turkey’s Customs Union with the European Union (EU) in 1996 resulted in substantial revisions to Turkey’s tariff regime. Turkey now applies the EU’s common external tariff for third country (including US) imports, and imposes no duty on non-agricultural items from EU and European free trade Association (EFTA) countries. Turkey eliminated its mass housing fund surcharge on all imports except for some agricultural products.
Consistent with its WTO commitments, Turkey maintains high border protection on many agricultural goods and food products.
Turkey requires import licenses for some agricultural commodities, which are issued, based on domestic supplies. The government also requires certification that quality standards are met for importation of human and veterinary drugs and certain foodstuffs. Import certificates are necessary for most products requiring after – sales services, including telecommunications and electronic equipment and vehicles. Importers are also required to establish repair facilities in all seven regions of Turkey. Some telecommunications equipment related to radio frequencies require type approvals.
The Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade prepared the "Ministerial Decree on the Regime of Technical Regulations and Standardization for Foreign Trade" and its supplementary legislation with the aim of providing transparency in the implementations, assembling all the dispersed regulations regarding standardization policies in Turkey and establishing a legal base for the harmonization of Turkish legislation with the Community’s.
The "Decree on the Regime of Technical Regulations and Standardization for Foreign Trade" is in conformity with the requirements laid down in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade of the World Trade Organization. It prohibits discrimination among trading partners and it aims to ensure that import products comply with the requirements of protection of human health and safety, animal or plant life or health, or the environment. Inspection is carried out only for some agricultural products which has mandatory standards in export / imports. The agricultural products within the scope of the 70 standards are performed by the General Directorate of Standardization for Foreign Trade in compliance to the standards which are parallel to the OECD and ECE standards. Industrial products are also subject to inspection by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE).
According to the Regulation, agricultural products such as fresh fruits and vegetables, dry and dried fruits, legumes, edible vegetable oils, and cotton within the scope of approximately 70 standards are subject to standardization and commercial quality controls in exports. These controls are carried out by the inspection units called as "Inspectorates of Standardization for Foreign Trade", within the 8 Regional Directorates (Marmara, Western Anatolia, South Anatolia, Eastern Black Sea, Western Black Sea, South Eastern Anatolia, Central Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia) working under the UFT.
The standards that are mandatory in exports are parallel to the UN/ECE standards and the inspections are performed according to the OECD Scheme. Following the inspection carried out by the inspectors, a "Control Certificate" is given to the exporter if the product is found to be in conformity with the relevant standard. The exporter cannot export the product without a Control Certificate.
Turkish documentation procedures follow the European Union system. All commercial shipments must be accompanied by customs declaration form, a commercial invoice, a certificate of origin and a bill of lading or airway bill, depending on the method of shipment used.
A material may be temporarily imported to Turkey without duties and tax if it is to be used in the production of a product that is to be exported. Temporary admission of goods intended for re-export in their original is permissible free of import duties and taxes with the approval of the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade. Books, newspapers, magazine, catalogues, pamphlets, brochures and similar advertising materials are exempt from custom duties. Samples of no commercial value are admitted duty free. Samples with commercial imported into Turkey should be marked "In Transit".
All packages, cases and bales must bear shipping mark numbers, dimensions and gross weight of the merchandise. Packages and the bills of lading that are to be shipped through Turkey should be marked "In transit".
False label, packing material, waste materials and dye-materials which are mentioned in the list is published yearly by The Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade. Also, imports in the context of Vienna Convention on Protection of Ozone Layer and its protocols are prohibited. On the other hand, some imports are required to have the permission of certain institutions. For example; imports of some petroleum products are required to have the permission of Energy Market Regulatory Authority.