How you import from and export to Turkey.

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Trade with Turkey

UK-Turkey trade agreement

The UK has signed a trade agreement with Turkey, which is in effect.

This guidance provides information on aspects of trade covered by the UK-Turkey agreement. It is for UK businesses trading with Turkey.

What the agreement includes

This agreement includes provisions on:

• trade in goods – including provisions on preferential tariffs, tariff rate quotas, rules of origin and sanitary and phytosanitary measures

• customs and trade facilitation

• intellectual property

• government procurement

• technical barriers to trade

• competition

• trade remedies

• dispute settlement

When the UK was an EU Member State, its trading relationship with Turkey was governed by the EU-Turkey Customs Union, alongside an agreement on agriculture and the coal and steel agreement. This arrangement has been transitioned into a traditional free trade agreement.

Tariff rates on goods

Preferential tariff rates for bilateral trade in goods between the UK and Turkey continue to apply as set out in the agreement. In some cases, the non-preferential applied rates for imports into the UK may in fact be lower because of changes in the UK’s Most Favoured Nation tariff schedule.

Exporters need to prove origin via self-certification in order to benefit from these preferential rates. For example, the good must be originating in one of the parties.

Tariff rate quotas (TRQs)

Tariff rate quotas in the agreement have been tailored specifically to the UK.

To find out the inward and outward tariff rate quotas, please see the full treaty text which provides a complete list.

Revised Rules of Origin Protocol

From 1 January 2021 to 13 April 2021, the Rules of Origin Protocol in the agreement included a number of temporary provisions, including the product-specific rules ( PSRs) and general provisions. From 14 April 2021, these were updated in line with the general provisions and PSRs set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU.

To benefit from the preferential tariffs under the UK-Turkey FTA, goods must meet the UK-Turkey preferential rules of origin.

Businesses and traders can still trade goods that do not meet the rules of origin, but they:

• will not benefit from preference under the UK-Turkey FTA
• may have to pay the standard (‘Most Favoured Nation’) tariffs that Turkey and UK apply to imports

Turkey and the EU set their own tariffs and have certain obligations to align these. Information about this can be obtained from Turkey’s customs authorities.

The rules of origin in the UK-Turkey FTA are set out in 2 parts:

1. General provisions

These are rules that apply to all products being traded under preference. They include both the primary and administrative requirements.

2. Product-specific rules of origin

These are the specific rules that set out, for every product based on their Harmonized System ( HS) code, what the requirements are for that product to be considered ‘originating’. The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System ( HS) , was developed by the World Customs Organization ( WCO) to describe and classify groups of goods. It is used by more than 200 countries worldwide.

The PSRs for this agreement use the 2017 version of the HS nomenclature. You should apply the PSR for your good using the code in which it was classified under this nomenclature.

In a limited number of cases the code for your good may have changed during HSrevisions. We are currently updating our online services to reflect these changes. In the interim correlation tables tracing these changes have been made available by the WCO and the United Nations

To be considered originating and qualify for preferential tariffs, products must be sufficiently worked or processed within the parties to the agreement.

Originating products / cumulation

There are 2 ways in which a product can be considered originating:

1. It can be ‘wholly obtained’

These are goods that have been exclusively obtained or produced in the territory of one country, without using materials from any other country. The goods must not have been manipulated or changed in another country, apart from certain minimal processes to keep them in good condition.

Examples of wholly obtained goods include:

• minerals extracted from the soil of a single country
• live animals born and raised in a single country
• goods produced in a single country from materials sourced exclusively from there..

2. It has been substantially transformed in line with the relevant product-specific rule

There are 3 basic rules used to decide if goods are sufficiently transformed:

• the ad-valorem, or ‘value added’ rule
• the change of tariff classification
• manufacture from certain products or through specific processes

In the UK-Turkey agreement, materials originating from Turkey, as well as production carried out within Turkey on non-originating materials, may be considered as originating in the UK (and vice versa).

Using EU materials and processing in your exports to Turkey

You can use EU materials or processing in your exports from the UK to Turkey and in your exports from Turkey to the UK. The UK and Turkey must have fulfilled the necessary requirements set out in the Rules of Origin Protocol.

You must ensure the working or processing you do in the UK goes beyond the minimal operations listed in the agreement and that the other relevant conditions are met. For example, you cannot simply package or label a product from the EU and export it to Turkey as a good originating in the UK.

Sending your goods to Turkey through the EU and other countries

Goods transited through the EU, and any other country with whom cumulation is applicable, are not subject to the same restrictions as those in transit through other third countries.

For example, you can split a consignment in the EU when exporting goods to Turkey, provided the goods comprising the consignment have not cleared customs in the EU.

Transit through any other third country is possible provided your goods remain under customs surveillance and do not undergo operations other than unloading, reloading or any operation designed to preserve them in good condition.

Proof of origin

As an importer, you must declare that you hold proof your goods comply with the rules of origin to benefit from preferential tariffs when:

• importing into the UK from Turkey
• importing into Turkey from the UK

Entitlement to preferential tariffs is based on a declaration on origin issued by the exporter. Your declaration on origin can be in electronic format (for example, emails and PDFs).

UK exporters should be:

• confident that the origin of goods is correct
• prepared to provide the necessary information if requested

Declaration on origin

The declaration on origin must use the following wording:

The exporter of the products covered by this document (customs authorisation No … (1)) declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of … (2) preferential origin.

… (3)

(Place and date)

… (4)

(Signature of the exporter, in addition the name of the person signing the declaration has to be indicated in clear script)

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