S/C/N/824  
 
3 September 2015  
(15-4463)  Page: 1/5  
Council for Trade in Services  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION OF TURKEY'S PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO SERVICES  
AND SERVICES SUPPLIERS OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 
 
The following notification from the delegation  of Turkey, dated 3 September 2015, is being 
circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services.  
_______________ 
  The Permanent Mission of Turkey to the World Trade Organization in Geneva has the honour to 
notify to the World Trade Organization Council fo r Trade in Services the preferential treatment 
which Turkey is making available to services and services suppliers of least-developed countries in accordance with the decision by Ministers at the WTO’s Eighth Ministerial Conference on 
Preferential Treatment to Services and Se rvice Suppliers of Least-Developed Countries  
(WT/L/847), and the decision by Ministers at the WTO’s Ninth Ministerial Conference on Operationalization of the Waiver Concerning Pr eferential Treatment to Services and Services 
Suppliers of Least-Developed Countries (WT/L/918). 
 The preferential treatment is made in sectors an d modes of supply that are of particular export 
interest to least-developed countries, as set out in The Collective Request Pursuant to the Bali 
Decision on the Operationalization of the LDC Serv ices Waiver Concerning Preferential Treatment 
to Services and Service Suppliers of Least Developed Countries (S/C/W/356).   
 
The preferential treatment took effect on 25 August  2015, and is intended to be maintained for the 
period of the Waiver. 
 
1  HORIZONTAL (TEMPORARY MOVEMENT OF NATURAL PERSONS) 
1.1.  Turkey provides Electronic Visa (e-Visa)  facilitation for tourism and business purposes to 
almost all WTO Member LDCs (31 out of 34). In line with its immigration policy, Turkey reserves the right to add or remove countries from the list of those countries whose nationals can apply for e-visa
1.  
1.2.  Nationals of LDCs in the following categori es are exempted from applying for and holding a 
Working Permit during their working period:  
i. those who will come to Turkey for less than one month for the purpose of scientific, 
cultural and artistic activities, or for less than four months for the purpose of sporting 
activities and whose residence address is outside of Turkey,  
ii. those who will come to Turkey to give training regarding the usage, maintenance and 
repair of imported machines and equipments, or to receive the equipments, or to 
repair the cars which have malfunctioned in Turkey, provided that they will not stay 
                                               
1 An e-Visa is an official document permitting entr y into and travel within Turkey. e-Visa is valid for 
touristic and trade purposes only. The e-Visa is an alte rnative to visas issued at Turkish missions and at the 
ports of entry. Applicants obtain their visas electron ically after entering required information and making 
payments by a credit or debit card. 
As in the case of other types of visas, respective Tu rkish officials at the ports of entry reserve the right 
to deny entry into Turkey to a holder of an e-Visa without any explanation. 
More information is available at https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/tour/ . S/C/N/824  
 
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  in Turkey for more than three months starting from the date of entry and provided 
that they submit the relevant documents, 
iii. those who will come to Turkey for giving tr aining regarding the usage of imported or 
exported goods provided that they will not stay in Turkey for more than three 
months starting from the date of entry and provided that they submit the relevant 
documents,  
iv. those who will work at the circus or at expositions, which are operating outside the 
scope of licensed tourism enterprises, provided  that they will not stay in Turkey for 
more than six months starting from the date of entry and provided that they submit the relevant documents,   
v. those will come to Turkey to give training at universities and public institutions, 
provided that term of their stay shall be li mited to the term of the training and in any 
case they will not stay in Turkey for more than two years, and provided they will submit the relevant documents in that regard,  
vi. those who notify to the relevant authorities that they will provide services in the field 
of socio-cultural, technological and education, provided that they will not stay in Turkey for more than six months,  
vii. trainees within the scope of international tr ainee programs provided that the Ministry 
of Labor and Social Security, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Higher Education Council have agreed on term and scope of this program,  
viii. representatives of tour operators, provided th at their term of duty shall not be longer 
than eight months,  
ix. football players whose applications are acce pted by the Turkish Football Federation 
and General Directorate of Youth and Sports, other athletes and trainers who will 
stay in Turkey during the term of their agreement, 
x. seamen who work at ships that are sailin g outside the cabotage line and registered 
to Turkish International Ship Registry. 
2  SECTOR-SPECIFIC 
2.1.  The following preferential treatment is ma de available with respect to the application of 
measures described in Article XVI of the Genera l Agreement on Trade in Services, subject to 
limitations set out in the Horizontal Commitments section of Turkey’s Schedule of Specific 
Commitments (GATS/SC/88). 
2.2.  Unless otherwise stated, all CPC references correspond to the 1991 provisional Central 
Product Classification (CPC) of the United Nations Statistical Office.  The appearance of ** against 
individual CPC listings indicates that the service specified constitutes only a part of the total range 
of activities covered by the CPC concordance. The entry "Unbound*" means unbound due to lack 
of technical feasibility. 
 S/C/N/824  
 
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  Business Services 
Sector or subsector  Limitations on market access  
A. Professional Services 
(f).  Integrated Engineering 
 (CPC 8673)  
1) None 2) None 
3) None 
4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
E. Rental/Leasing Services without 
Operators  
(c).  Relating to other transport equipment 
 (CPC 83101+83105)   
1) Unbound 
2) None 3) None 4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
(d).  Relating to other machinery and 
equipment 
 (CPC 83106-83109) 1) Unbound 
2) None 
3) None 4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
F. Other Business Services 
(o).  Building-cleaning services 
 (CPC 874) 
  
1) Unbound* 2) None 
3) None 
4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
(s).  Convention services  (CPC 87909**)  1) Unbound 
2) None 3) None 
4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
(t).  Other  Translation and interpretation services  (CPC 87905)  
1) Unbound 2) None 3) None except for translation and 
interpretation services supplied by 
sworn/certified interpreters in relation with notary services. 
 - Sworn/certified translation services: 
unbound 
4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
  S/C/N/824  
 
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  Construction and Related Engineering Services 
Sector or subsector  Limitations on market access  
 Construction Work 
 (CPC 51) 
  Construction work for buildings, 
Construction work for civil 
engineering, Assembly and erection of prefabricated constructions, 
Installation works, Building completion 
and finishing work 
 (CPC 512, 513, 514, 516, 517)  
  
 
 1) None 
2) None 
3) None 4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 Pre-erection work at construction 
sites, Special trade construction work, 
Renting services related to equipment 
for construction or demolition of buildings or civil engineering works, 
with operator 
 (CPC 511, 515, 518)  
 1) Unbound* 
2) None 
3) None 
4) Unbound except as indicated in the 
horizontal section. 
 
Travel, Tourism, Hospitalit y and Conference Services 
Sector or subsector  Limitations on market access  
9. TOURISM AND TRAVEL RELATED 
SERVICES  
A.  Hotels and restaurants 
 (CPC 641-643) 1) Unbound* 
2) None 3) None 
4) After receiving the permission of the 
Ministry of Interior based on the affirmative opinion of the Ministry of Tourism, the hotels and restaurants 
may employ foreign personnel up to 
20% of the total personnel. 
 
  3  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING 
3.1.  Regarding paragraph 3.2 of the collective request of LDCs, Turkey aims at accelerating 
implementation of comprehensive initiatives for the benefit of LDCs in the coming years. Turkey's 
scholarship programs such as Africa initiative, Harran and Bosporus, aim to provide more and better opportunities to all students from LDCs
2.For the period of 2014-2015, the number of new 
admission of students3 coming from LDCs is 5.81% (1292 out of 22222) of overall students. The, 
total number of students from LDCs is 3801, approximately 5.26% of overall beneficiaries (72178 foreign students). The percentage of LDC students receiving higher education services in Turkey is 
increasing. 
3.2.  Regarding items 28 and 29 of the LDC reques t on “Education and Training-Related Services”, 
Turkey would like to clarify that there is no spec ific restriction for LDCs. For the item 31, training 
                                               
2 The details of those programs are published here, in this link: 
http://www.turkiyeburslari.gov.tr/index.php/tr/turkiye-burslari/burs-programlari  
3 These statistics can be  reached via this link: http://www.osym.gov.tr/belge/1-6304/arastirma-yayin-
ve-istatistikler.html  S/C/N/824  
 
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  from LDCs is facilitated through “Mevlana”4, an exchange program, for both students and 
instructors, and all WTO member LDCs are covered by this program. 
3.3.  Also, TÜB İTAK (Scientific and Technological Research  Council of Turkey) has been granting 
scholarships for scientists coming from LDCs and this program will continue up until 2022. 
 
__________  
                                               
4 Separate decisions have been taken for both students and instructors in 25 February 2015. Detailed 
information can be reached via this link: http://www.yok.gov.tr/web/mevlana/anasayfa