S/C/N/824/Rev.1  
 
16 June 2016  
(16-3307)  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 
Revision  
The following notification from the delegation of Tu rkey, dated 14 June 2016, is being circulated to 
the Members of the Council for Trade in Servic es. This document replaces Turkey's initial 
notification (S/C/N/824, of 3 September 2015). 
 
 
_______________ 
 
 
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, as set out in document WT/L/847. 
 
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-visa1.  
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 temporarily 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 permanent residence is abroad,  
                                               
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/Rev.1 
 
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  ii. those who will come to Turkey to provide training regarding the assembly, usage, 
maintenance and repair of machines and equipment imported to Turkey, or to 
receive the equipment, or to repair the ve hicles which have malfunctioned in Turkey, 
provided that their stay will not exceed a total of three months in one year starting 
from the date of entry into Turkey and provided that they submit the relevant 
documents proving this condition, 
iii. those who will come to Turkey for providing training regarding the usage of goods 
and services exported from Turkey and impo rted to Turkey provided that their stay 
will not exceed a total of three months in one year starting from the date of entry into Turkey and provided that they subm it the relevant documents proving this 
condition,  
iv. those who will work at the circus or at expositions, which are operating outside the 
scope of licensed tourism enterprises, provid ed that their stay will not exceed six 
months starting from the date of entry into  Turkey and provided that they submit the 
relevant documents proving this condition   
v. those who will come to Turkey to improve th eir skills and increase their experience at 
universities and public institutions, provided that term of their stay shall be limited to 
the term of the training and their stay will  not exceed two years, and provided they 
will submit the relevant documents proving this condition,  
vi. those who are declared by the relevant auth orities that they will provide significant 
service and contribution to Turkey  for a period of time not exceeding six months in 
the field of socio-cultural, technological areas and education,  
vii. those who will undergo training within the scope of international student trainee 
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. those who are representatives of tour operat ors that come to Turkey, provided that 
their term of duty shall not exceed eight months,  
ix. football players, other athletes and trainers whose applications are accepted by the 
Turkish Football Federation or General Directorate of Youth and Sports during the term of their agreement, 
x. seamen who work on ships that are sailing outside the cabotage line, registered to 
Turkish International Ship Registry and obtained “Certificate of Conformity” from the related authority, as required by the bilateral protocols with the countries in 
accordance to the regulation I/10 of the International Convention on Standards of 
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. 
1.3.  For further clarity, foreigners, within the scope of paragraphs i, iv, vi and viii, can benefit 
from the exemptions only once within a calendar year. In order to benefit from this exemption, at 
least three months must pass after the expiration date of any residence permit which was granted 
for the same purpose previously. 
1.4.  A confirmation certificate for the working permission exemption is given to foreigners who 
are exempted from working permission. 
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). S/C/N/824/Rev.1 
 
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  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. 
 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/Rev.1 
 
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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 LDC collective request, 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, new admission of 
students3 from LDCs amounted to 5.81% (1,292 ou t of 22,222) of overall students. The total 
number of students from LDCs was 3,801, approx imately 5.26% of overall beneficiaries (72,178 
foreign students). The percentage of LDC students receiving higher education services in Turkey is 
increasing. All scholarship programs are administered by the Presidency for Turks Abroad and 
Related Communities. 
                                               
2 The details of those programs are published under the following 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/Rev.1 
 
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  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 
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. 
 
__________  
 
                                               
4 Separate decisions have been taken for both students and instructors on 25 February 2015. Detailed 
information can be found via this link: http://www.yok.gov.tr/web/mevlana/anasayfa