Board Member H. Cahit Soysal's article titled "Is Correction in Declaration a Misdemeanor?" "Is Correction in Declaration a Misdemeanor?" was published on 25.03.2024 in Nasıl Bir Ekonomi Newspaper.

There is a saying in Turkish, "A merchant who is bankrupt rummages through old books." When things did not go well in the economy, a regulation that had been in practice for a long time but which no one dwelled on started to catch the eyes of foreign trade people. Especially when the fine amounts determined based on the changes in the revaluation rate reached serious dimensions, it fell to us to raise the issue. 

Article 63 of the Customs Law No. 4458 contains the following provisions:

"Provided that it does not result in the declaration of other goods, the customs authorities allow the correction of one or more information in the declaration upon the request of the declarant. However

a) Notifying the declarant that the goods will be examined,

b) The information in question is found to be incorrect,

c) Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 73 (regarding the control of the goods after delivery), it is not allowed to make corrections to the declaration after the delivery of the goods."

On the same subject, paragraph 2 of Article 121 of the Customs Regulation contains the following regulation: "Until the delivery of the goods;

a) the type of control of the declaration by the computer system for the inspection of the goods is determined as red line,

b) Determining that the information regarding the declared goods is incorrect,

corrections to the declaration are allowed first."

We have mentioned the provisions of the law and regulation for the following reason: Making corrections in the Customs Declaration is a practice foreseen and permitted by the legislation. Depending on the requirements of commercial life, some information may be obtained after the declaration, and sometimes payments affecting the customs value are made after the declaration is made. As a matter of fact, Article 53 of the Customs Regulation regulates in detail how the "declaration with exceptional value" will be made and how the declaration will be corrected later. Therefore, it is the nature of foreign trade that the legislation allows for corrections in the declaration.

The acceptable amounts determined based on changes in the revaluation rate have reached severe dimensions. The practice of imposing fines for corrections made in customs declarations by the legislation should be abandoned.

For example, the value of the goods you export may change after the necessary analyses are made in the country of export. In such cases, where the value of the goods increases, a "Debit Note" is issued by the buyer company abroad; accordingly, the exporter issues an additional invoice in this amount. This additional invoice must also be declared to customs, and a correction must be requested in the declaration. In this respect, with the correction made in the declaration, more foreign currency inflow to the country will be provided.

To realize this process, it is necessary to submit a petition for correction to the customs office where the transaction is carried out, pay the fine mentioned in line 54 of Annex 82 of the Customs Regulation, and apply to the assigned inspection officer. The inspection officer examines the documents, reactivates the "closed" declaration, makes "redress" (correction) in the declaration in line with the request, and closes the declaration again. The officer spends at most 5 minutes on this process.

Since the correction of the declaration is recognized as a right according to the law, is it appropriate to impose a fine for this process? Of course not. It is helpful to examine why it is not applicable.

Chapter 11, Section 3 of the Customs Law No. 4458 is titled "Penalties for Irregularities". The 1st paragraph of Article 241 in this section is written as follows: "Without prejudice to the cases where a separate penalty is determined in this law, those who act contrary to this law and the provisions introduced by the secondary regulations issued based on the powers granted in this law are subject to a 60 TL irregularity penalty, provided that it is stipulated in these regulations." The 60 TL fine mentioned in the paragraph has been increased to 828 TL based on the 2024 revaluation rates.

In the first paragraph of Article 584, titled "Irregularity Penalty" of the Customs Regulation, it states that "Those who commit the acts specified in other Regulations and Communiqués published by the Undersecretariat (Ministry) to those included in Annex-82 are subject to an irregularity penalty of 60 TL (828 TL) by the provision of the first paragraph of Article 241 of the law."

In the 54th row of the additional table numbered 82, which is titled "Acts Requiring Irregularity Penalty under the First Paragraph of Article 241 of the Law" of the Regulation, the phrase "making corrections in the customs declaration, provided that there is no other situation that requires a penalty and the nature is the same" is included.

Let's summarize the issue now. As a requirement of foreign trade transactions, I access information that I did not have on the registration date of the declaration. Given this information and documents, I request a correction in a previously registered declaration. In line with my request for correction, which the legislation accepts, the inspection officer makes the necessary corrections in the declaration. Everything is by the law, but the state imposes an "irregularity fine" on me. Why? What irregularity have I committed? Moreover, if the amount of this fine, which was low until yesterday, has reached thousands of Turkish liras, don't I have the right to know why I am paying this fine? If it is said, "Because of your request, the state officer wasted 5 minutes of his time, you are paying for that", isn't the salary of that officer paid from the taxes deducted from me?

While the principle of legality is embodied in the 2nd paragraph of Article 4 of the Law on Misdemeanors No. 5326, which states, "The type, duration and amount of sanctions for misdemeanors can only be determined by law," what is this fine imposed with the regulation's annex, let alone the regulation itself? Doesn't this fine clearly violate Article VIII, paragraph 3 of the GATT Agreement?

The practice of imposing fines for corrections made in customs declarations by the legislation should be abandoned. Let's not withhold this from our foreign traders, whom we have released into international competition.