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Orhan YILMAZ
Customs Consultant
The issue of "Specialized Customs" has been the main agenda of a discussion at the global level for years. Do countries actually establish specialized customs as places where there are employees specialized in one or more goods and where there are laboratories or physical analysis devices for the control of those goods, or do they open specialized customs as a non-tariff barrier?
As of today, a consensus has been reached in the World Trade Organization that specialized customs are a "non-tariff barrier".
Former Undersecretary of Treasury Yener Dinçmen, in his interview on the subject to Hürriyet Newspaper on 03.08.2000; He described the Specialized Customs application, which the government envisaged to limit automobile imports, as "a harmful measure, outside all international rules". Dinçmen, who also served as the Undersecretary of Customs in the 1993-94 period, warned that "Forgetting the existence of a very powerful organization called the World Trade Organization would put Turkey in a difficult situation."
In his evaluation, Dinçmen reminded that a similar approach was experienced during his time as the Undersecretary of Customs and said, "At that time, it was requested to open a specialized customs office in Konya. "Now I feel like I'm seeing old pictures," he said; He pointed out that if a single specialized customs application was implemented for imported automobiles, Turkey would face sanctions from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and said, “We have been listening to the example of France for years, but they came back the next week. Because France had tried this application for Japanese television. They opened a customs office far away from both ports and airports. They said (Japanese television channels can only enter from here). The incident came to the GATT council the next day, and they immediately stopped. Because this is called Non-Tariff Barrier.” He made statements as follows.
In the continuation of the interview, Dinçmen said that the rules of the WTO are subject to much more precise and severe sanctions than the GATT, and explained the possible consequences if the government insists, “The issue may become a matter of dispute in the WTO, this time restrictions may be placed on our goods, anti-dumping investigations may be opened.”. If it is necessary to limit automobile imports, it is possible to do this with 'technical measures'. Criteria are introduced into the service network, special criteria can be sought for the engine depending on the weather conditions in Turkey.”
The first specialized customs practice in Turkey started in 1993. That year, domestic manufacturers, who were afraid of the "Customs Union" that would be established with the European Union two years later, told the political authority of the time, "We cannot compete with European companies. He made demands such as "At least protect us with specialized customs" and some of these demands were put into practice.
Firstly, "Yeşilköy Automotive Specialized Customs Directorate" was established as a connection to the Istanbul Customs General Directorate with the "Customs General Communiqué (Customs Procedures)" No. 5, published in the Official Gazette No. 21749 dated 05.11.1993. The directorate's field of duty is defined as "immediately carrying out transactions regarding automobile imports and foreign plated vehicles of passengers traveling to and from abroad."
At specialized customs, entry into free circulation, inward and outward processing permits, import and export transactions are carried out. The purpose of the specialized customs application; It is defined as "carrying out customs procedures in a shorter time, maintaining mandatory standards for imported goods, preventing low value declarations, protecting consumers and public health, and making customs controls more effective and regular." Regardless of the profession, the future of the profession depends on specialization. It is clear that as employees become experts on a subject, they will contribute to the development of the profession by revealing the deficiencies and awareness of the system. However, according to the provisions of the "Appointment and Relocation Regulation" put into effect for customs personnel by the Ministry of Commerce, customs personnel are obliged to change their place of duty every 2-3 years, thus preventing them from specializing by working in the same specialized customs office for decades.
With the specialized customs application, import transactions of special goods are carried out only through a limited number of authorized customs directorates. Customs directorates authorized as specialized customs are selected from regions where the relevant sector and production are concentrated. For example; Since Isparta province stands out in domestic carpet production, Isparta Customs Directorate has been authorized as a specialized customs office for carpet imports, and Rize Customs Directorate has been authorized as a specialized customs office for tea imports since Rize province stands out in domestic tea production. Likewise, textile specialized customs are selected from regions where the textile industry is concentrated, automotive specialized customs are selected from regions where the automotive industry is concentrated, and fertilizer specialized customs are selected from regions where agricultural production is concentrated and authorized as specialized customs for the import of the goods in question.
To give an example of authorized specialized customs administrations, import transactions of textile goods within the scope of chapters 50 to 63 and clothing items and clothing accessories within the scope of tariff subheading 3926.20, pursuant to Article 3 of the Customs General Communiqué serial number 105, are only carried out in Ankara, A.H.L, Aksaray. , European Free Zone, Bolu, Denizli, Gaziantep, Gaziantep Airport, Gemlik, Giresun, Halkalı, İzmir, Kayseri, Mersin, Gaziantep, İskenderun, Thrace Free Zone and Yalova Customs Directorates; These can be done at Sabiha Gökçen Airport Customs Directorate, provided that they are delivered by express cargo. In the same Communiqué, it is stated that vehicles arriving at a land border gate and carrying textile products within the scope of this Communiqué can only be dispatched to the specified customs directorates.
When determining the goods that will be subject to specialized customs enforcement, the nature of the goods, the origin of the goods, the country of origin of the goods, the geographical location of the customs directorates, the physical, technical and human infrastructure of the customs directorates, the domestic production volume of the goods and the geographical distribution of production, the frequency of the goods being subject to smuggling, national trade policies. Criteria such as whether there may be elements in international obligations that would put Turkey in trouble are also taken into consideration.
On the other hand, if the goods for which specialized customs are designated are sent through free zones in Turkey, the vehicle must be shipped to the relevant specialized customs and the customs procedures of the goods must be carried out at these specialized customs directorates.
Anti-globalization protectionist measures and new types of non-tariff barriers that have increased in the world in recent years indicate that specialized customs practices in Turkey will continue for a while.
SOURCE
Customs General Communiqués
Ministry of Commerce Web Portal
Hürriyet Newspaper (03.08.2000 copy)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Question 1. What does specialization mean?
Answer: According to the Turkish Language Association dictionary, "specialization" means expertise, specialization.
Question 2. What does specialized customs mean?
Answer: If the customs procedures of predetermined goods are carried out only by certain customs administrations, the said customs administrations are called "specialized customs".
Question 3. For what purpose are specialized customs offices assigned?
Answer: The apparent legal reasons for assignment have been determined as completing customs procedures in a shorter time, increasing the efficiency of customs controls, maintaining the mandatory standards required for imported goods, protecting the consumer and public health, and preventing low value declarations.
Question 4. What is the real purpose of specialized customs practice?
Answer: The official purpose of the specialized customs application is explained above. However, in the background it can be said that its real purpose is to protect domestic industrialists or to make it difficult to import some products.
Question 5. How are specialized customs determined?
Answer: Customs directorates authorized as specialized customs are selected from regions where the relevant sector and production are concentrated. For example, considering the intensity of the petrochemical sector, only the Gulf Petrochemical Customs Directorate is authorized for the import of petrochemical products, Isparta Customs Directorate is authorized for carpet imports since Isparta province stands out in domestic carpet production, and Rize Customs Directorate is authorized as a specialized customs office for tea imports since Rize province stands out in domestic tea production. Likewise, textile specialized customs were established in regions where the textile industry was concentrated, and automotive specialized customs were established in regions where the automotive sector was concentrated.
