Our UGM Corporate Communications Director Sami Altınkaya's article entitled "The Council of state did not allow delivery order” was published in the Dünya newspaper on 27.07.2020.

“Delivery order”, which is the cream of cake in our foreign trade, has officially terminated. The Council of state stopped execution on the issue of “delivery order.” Whether you call it “delivery order” or “cargo delivery certificate” agencies will no longer be able to claim the costs invented later from the companies engaged in foreign trade.

I call them “chameleons” costs. If they demand money now under other names, never give it away. Precedent the decision of the Council of state and engage your lawyers.

Today, when we can't increase our revenues, we need to reduce our costs. The more you reduce your expenses, the longer you can survive in times of crisis. The companies that saw this appealed to the court and said stop making unfair gains. He also won an important victory to get back the money they had paid so far.

Kemal Özkan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Özimeks, who was a guest on my TV program, won the legal battle. This will be a precedent for other companies.

The Ministry of transport and infrastructure, the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs published an article on 24 July. The relevant article determined the issues that will be applied to the delivery of cargo to buyers imported by sea and delivered to temporary warehouses and storages.

The application of the “Load delivery Instruction Form “was repealed by a court order

Accordingly, it is once again emphasized that chameleon expenses should not be taken from foreign trade companies under the name “delivery order”. They called it “delivery order.” Then they changed it to “load delivery form.” But once again, the appeal of firms engaged in foreign trade to the courts was accepted by the Council of state. Thus, the application of the “cargo delivery Instruction Form” applied in the delivery of goods imported by sea and delivered to temporary warehouses and storages to be repealed by a court decision.

The practice of “delivery order”, which brings additional costs to foreign trade firms and causes us to lose billions of dollars, has once again hit the court wall. We evaluated the decision taken with international logistics expert Haluk Ündeğer, who has kept the issue on Turkey's agenda for many years. He said "Now, from the point of view of agencies, we came to the distinction of white or black. They will not be able to put pressure on the warehouse and say you can't deliver the goods without notified by me. And the storekeepers who took unfair advantage of this work will no longer be able to charge this fee. They will also stop applying excess prices and tariffs according to their will. Those behind this application have caused Turkey to lose $ 4 billion a year. But wrong things always come back at a certain point. We thank those who have contributed.”

Emphasizing that customs brokers should be follower of the issue, Haluk Ündeğer said: “until now, customs warehouses were receiving percentage from agencies. When these unfair fees of agencies prevented, they will now ask the depositors for a percentage. Warehouse workers will invent new fees this time.” 

For the commission that will be given to the agencies, let's see what fee we will face now. That's why I call it “chameleon.” Maybe they can call it “enlightenment” or “looking at goods when you pass” expense. Haluk Ündeğer has a call to companies engaged in foreign trade “you can refund fees such as all delivery order documents that you have paid for the last year. Although the execution of this transaction was stopped by a court order, those who did not stop and continued must now pay the unfair money they received retrospectively. Of course, along with the interest for delay. This decision, called sea transport, also applies to transport through air and land road. The decision is also a decision that shows that the General Directorate of Maritime Trade cannot decide on customs affairs. But unfortunately it was not noticed by customs, but by a private company. He gave customs a court order that it is your job. Unfortunately, the General Directorate of Customs has been throwing the ball to outside the pitch on this issue for a long time and saying it is not my job. By the way, we asked Haluk Ündeğer to remind him once again of the story of “delivery order”. "With the agreement of the customs union with the European Union and Turkey many years ago, first removed the delivery order from the customs code. He started doing business with a computer that we were given credit for and Customs. Later, the Turkish Commercial Code changed. Shippers and agencies were prohibited from asking for money such as “advance pay.” But the General Directorate of maritime trade created a story called “Cargo Delivery paper”, which changed the name “delivery order”. And our customs couldn't say that you can't interfere in my business. The customs warehouses opened immediately started asking for this new paper. Because the money would be deposited in a separate account and shared. Jobs have been so exaggerated and grown that $ 4 billion a year has been blown out of our economy. This was even included in the World Bank report. Last year, the Council of state again stopped the execution, but the execution continued. Now it's definitely canceled. The main purpose of the Delivery order is to collect unfounded fees using customs. So it's an effort to use civil servants and the law as collectors of their own unfounded, misleading wages.” 

No one else can handle customs works anymore. The point here is that our customs are waiting for a decision from the Council of state in order to apply their own law. We will continue to be followers of this issue. Companies will be able to recover thousands of dollars they have paid so far by court order. We can tell the lawyers that the day has come. How important it is to reduce costs today, companies engaged in foreign trade will be able to recover the money they were unfairly forced to pay, citing the relevant court ruling as a precedent.

Imagine that you have a product and you will bring it from Istanbul to Eskisehir. You've made all the deals on this and paid your money in advance. When the truck that brought your goods comes to the entrance of Eskisehir, it says this is it. You took your money, and when I say why you don’t deliver my product to my house as we agreed, he says he can't. At that time, he wants a home delivery certificate from me for home delivery. I can't say no at that stage and have to pay the extra fee asked of me at the last minute. Even though I've paid in advance and made a deal, all this is ignored and I'm being asked for extra money. And I have to pay the requested money. Here's the situation is so simple. ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎

Arbitrary practices and unfair fees at Turkish ports are slowing our foreign trade pace. While we plan to ship Chinese goods to London in 12 days, it is unacceptable that we are still discussing chameleon expenses such as “delivery order.” In today's world, which is won by the fast and agile, the cumbersome bureaucratic structure unfortunately makes us fail.

Drawbacks of additional customs duties

Unfortunately, the issue of taking and implementing quick decisions intended for the transition to the presidential system cannot be realized in foreign trade. If you can't get a product that China brought to London in 12 days to Europe, you will lose it.

Turkey, a significant part of its exports depend on imports from abroad, hurts itself by imposing new taxes on imports. When we say to protect the domestic industry, introducing additional customs duties on products that do not have raw materials also negatively affects our exports. It should be noted that the countries in which we introduce additional taxes can do the same to us and impose additional taxes on the products we export. As a result, first of all, planning foreign trade with a certain strategy and developing policies by anticipating the problems that may arise strengthens Turkey's hand. Daily economic measures can cause us bigger problems in the future. So we need to think about it, consult with the parties to the issue, talk and make a decision. Or hands in the air together!