WHAT IS SPECIALIZED CUSTOMS? WHAT IS ITS IMPORTANCE?

M. Altay YEGİN
Customs Consultant

The word specialization according to the Turkish Language Association means specialization.

While it is stated in the scope of our article, specialization (From now on it will be referred to as specialization.)

No matter what the profession group is, the future of the relevant profession is through specialization. As a beautiful saying of the old people states; “If the horn does not pass the ear, that art dies.” As everyone who comes from below works harder and becomes more specialized in the subject, they will contribute more to the development of the profession by revealing the deficiencies and awareness of the system.

Customs administrations have preferred specialization in terms of risk criteria and aimed to carry out imports of special goods only from a limited number of authorized customs directorates with the application of specialization customs.

In imports; it is aimed to ensure effective control in terms of value, tariff, origin, and standards, and especially to protect domestic production.

The customs directorates authorized as specialized customs were selected from the regions where the relevant sector and production are concentrated. For example; considering the prominence of Isparta province in domestic carpet production, the Isparta Customs Directorate was authorized as a specialized customs for carpet imports, and considering the prominence of Rize province in domestic tea production, the Rize Customs Directorate was authorized as a specialized customs for tea imports.

Similarly, textile-specialized customs were selected from the regions where the textile sector is concentrated, automotive-specialized customs from the regions where the automotive sector is concentrated, and fertilizer-specialized customs from the regions where agricultural production is concentrated and authorized as specialized customs for the import of the goods in question.

Authorized Specialized Customs Administrations

To give an example of authorized specialized customs administrations, according to GGT Serial No 105 Article 3: Entry into Free Circulation transactions can only be made from 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; and from Sabiha Gökçen Airport Customs Directorate, provided that it arrives by express cargo. It is stated that a vehicle that arrives at a land border gate and carries textile products within the scope of this Communiqué can only be shipped to the specified customs directorates.

When determining the goods that will be subject to specialized customs application, criteria such as 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 the production, the frequency of the goods being subject to smuggling, national trade policies, and international obligations are taken into consideration.

In addition, if the subject is traded through Free Zones; since the Free Zones are considered outside the Turkish Customs Area, if the goods in the free zone and therefore within the scope of import are subject to specialized customs application, the customs procedures of these goods must also be carried out through specialized customs directorates.

The Importance of Specialized Customs

All these measures and restrictions are not aimed at making things difficult, but on the contrary, they aim to carry out the transactions through effective individuals and institutions that are specialized. There is currently no possibility of eliminating the risk elements and, in parallel, there is no possibility of eliminating the Specialized Customs applications.

ANNEX 1:https://ticaret.gov.tr/gumruk-islemleri/gumruk-idareleri/ihtisas-gumrukleri-uygulamasi/ihtisas-gumrukleri