WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE  
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIO  WT/TPR/M/125/Add.3 
16 March 2004 
 (04-1150) 
Trade Policy Review Body 
17 and 19 December 2003 Original:  English/ 
                 anglais/                  inglés 
  
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW 
Turkey  
Minutes of Meeting
 
Addendum  
Chairperson:  H.E. Ms Mary Whelan (Ireland) 
 This document contains the advance writte n questions, and replies provided by Turkey.1 
__________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Organe d'examen des politiques commerciales 
17 et 19 décembre 2003  
EXAMEN DES POLITIQUES COMMERCIALES 
Turquie 
Compte-rendu de la réunion
 
Addendum  
Présidente:  S.E.  Mme Mary Whelan (Irlande) 
 
 Le présent document contient les questions écrites communiquées à l'avance et les réponses 
fournies par la Turquie .1 
__________________________________________________________________________________  Órgano de Examen de las Políticas Comerciales 17 y 19 de diciembre de 2003  
EXAMEN DE LAS POLÍTICAS COMERCIALES 
Turquía 
Acta de la reunión
 
Addendum  
Presidente:  Excma. Sra. Mary Whelan (Irlanda) 
 
 En el presente documento figuran las pre guntas presentadas anticipadamente por escrito, 
junto con las respuestas facilitadas por Turquía.1 
 
                                                      
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.  WT/TPR/M/125/Add.3 
 Page 3 
 
 
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM INDIA WITHIN 
THE CONTEXT OF THE TPR OF TURKEY 
   Question No.1
 
 
 Turkey was expected to align itself with th e EU GSP as of 1-1-2001 but this has now been 
postponed to November, 2004. Whether the Government  of Turkey would kindly indicate the reason 
for this delay and an assessment as to whethe r the obligation would be complied with by 
November, 2004. 
 
 Answer:  
 
 In accordance with Article 16 of the Association Council Decision No. 1/95 setting out the 
rules and procedures of the Customs Union betw een Turkey and the EC, Turkey commenced to 
introduce the EC GSP from 1 January 2002 onwards.  
   1.  The preferences, granted in this regime  are classified basing upon the sensitivity of the 
products as "sensitive" and "non-sensitive" similar to  the EC's current regime and the same rate of 
duties are charged accordingly.  
All the countries covered by the EC GSP are accorded preferential treatment. And, 2884 12-
digit tariff lines are included within the scope  of the current GSP scheme of Turkey.  
 
Turkey is also endeavoring to align its tariff rates for the rest of the products under the EC 
GSP depending upon the improvements recorded  in the prevailing economic situation. 
 
Further alignment to the EC GSP will be  continued depending upon the improvements 
recorded in the economic performance of Turkey, th e effects of the GSP Regime on Turkey’s foreign 
trade and the impact of the implementation over the industry.  
In this regard, within the framework of the 2004 Import Regime, it is envisaged that the 
“Everything but Arms (EBA)” initiative will be adopted which means that  EC GSP will be fully 
operational for the Least Developed Countries for the products under the Customs Union. 
 
Meanwhile, further improvement will be done in favor of the developing countries where it is 
foreseen that approximately 51 %
 of all industrial products covere d by the EC GSP regime will be 
included in Turkey’s own regime for this country  group by 1 January 2004. In other words, from 
1 January 2004 onwards, we will be  covering 5660 12-digit HS lines,  which constitute 50.9 % of the 
current EC GSP.  
 Turkey’s efforts towards adopting EC’s GSP fully by 2006 are continuing. 
 
Question No. 2
 
 
It has been brought to the notice of the Govern ment of India that market access for Indian 
exports of High Voltage Porcelain Insulators is bein g effectively denied in Turkey on account of the 
fact that the local Turkish electricity authority do not allow the use of insulators from Indian 
manufacturers.  We would be grateful for a clar ification on the rationale for this policy and an 
indication as to by when remedial action can be expected to remove this market access barrier. 
 WT/TPR/M/125/Add.3 
Page 4  
 
 Answer:
 
 
Under the current Import Regime of Turkey, ther e is no restriction or prohibition applied on 
the importation of High Voltage Porcelain Insulators from India.  
Energy transmission lines and transformer subs tations are financed through the loans of 
World Bank and tendered according to the WB  procurement procedures in Turkey.  
  The tenders are open to all companies, without any discrimination, who meet the tender specifications prepared by Turkish Electricity Tran smission Company (TEIAS), which are in line with 
the international norms and standards. 
 
 Question No. 3
   
 
 It has been brought to the notice of the Government of India that the Turkish regulation No. 
2003/21 regarding import of food products has b een replaced by a new regulation No. 2003/31 
effective from September, 2003, under which even food packages have been included in the category 
of products that require health certificate from a competent authority in exporting country confirming 
that such containers/utensils are suitable to go in  contact with food stuff for human consumption.  
India would like to know whether this new regul ation has been notified to the WTO’s Committee on 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measu res or Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade?  This is 
particularly important, as the Indian authorities, till now, have only been provided with a copy of this 
regulation in Turkish language. Kindly provide an Eng lish translation and a gist of this measure.  
Does it only apply to containers for packaged food ite ms or also to cooking utensils?   India would 
also like to know whether the standards now intro duced are based on existing international standards 
as provided under Article 3(1) of the SPS Agreement or  has been introduced under Article 3(3) of the 
SPS Agreement or under similar provi sions under the TBT Agreement?  
 
 Answer:  
 
Communiqué for Standardization in Foreig n Trade No: 2004/5, which has replaced 
Communiqué for Standardization in Foreign Trade No:2003/21 covers the system necessary to protect 
human, animal or plant life or health and f ood safety analysis. WTO recognizes the necessity of 
human, animal or plant life or health protection, a nd this Communiqué is in full compliance with SPS 
requirements and other international rules (like Codex Alimentarius).  
 
On the other hand, Communiqué no: 31, which h as been published by Ministry of Agriculture 
and Rural Affairs (MARA), covers the system ap plied to imports of food and food packages to 
confirm that they are suitable to go in contact  with food stuff for human consumption.  
  Communiqué no 2004/5 contains 6 Annexes (I, II/ A-B, III, IV, V/A-B, VI/A) covering lists of 
products, which require a referenc e document (Control Certificate) from MARA, according to which 
laboratory analyses are realized. Turkey provided de tailed information on this system on several SPS 
Committee meetings. 
 
Depending on Communiqué no: 31 of MARA, produc ts covered by list VI B (which include 
containers/utensils to go in contact with foodstu ff etc.) have been excluded from reference document 
requirement. 
 
The regulation of 2003/31 has b een promulgated in the Turkish Official Gazette dated 
01.09.2003 No. 25216, but this regulation has not been translated into English yet.    WT/TPR/M/125/Add.3 
 Page 5 
 
 
Both communiqués explain the necessary doc uments including health certificate and the 
system applied to imports of food and food packages.  They do not contain any technical regulation or 
standards. Detailed information on their application may be received from the enquiry point of 
Turkey, MARA.    Question No.  4
  
 
 It is gathered that the Turkish customs tari ff is still not fully aligned with the EU Customs 
tariff. We would request the Turkish authorities to indicate the possible time frame by when the 
alignment exercise would be completed?   Answer:
 
 
In the context of the Customs Union, which entered into force on 1 January 1996, Turkey 
began to apply the Community’s Common Customs Tariff (CCT) on the imports of industrial goods 
from the third countries. The only exception was a limited number of sensitive products, such as 
automobiles, footwear, some leather products and furn iture. On 1 January 2001, at the end of the five-
year transitional period, the customs duties applicable  to those products were al so lowered to the level 
of the EC’s CCT.  
Turkish customs tariff is fully aligned with the EC’s customs tariff. 
 
 
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