World Trade Organization	RESTRICTED
	WT/TPR/G/125 19 November 2003
	(03-6062)
Trade Policy Review Body	Original: English

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRADE POLICY REVIEW   TURKEY   Report by the Government

 

 

 

Pursuant to the Agreement Establishing the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization), the policy statement by the Government of Turkey is attached.

Note:    This report is subject to restricted circulation and press embargo until the end of the meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body on Turkey.

 

CONTENTS

Page

I. economic environment 5

(1) Macroeconomic Developments 5

(2) Stabilization Program and Aftermath 7

(3) Improvement of the Investment Environment in Turkey 9

(4) Privatization 12

iii. TRADE POLICIES – DYNAMICS OF TRADE POLICIES 13

(1) Implementation of WTO Agreements 13

(i) Trade in Goods 13

(ii) Services 15

(iii) Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights 16

(iv) Investment 17

(2) Turkey-EC Full Membership Process 18

(i) Recent Developments in Turkey-EC Relations 18

(ii) Harmonization Efforts After the Customs Union 20

(iii) Turkey-EC Trade in Agricultural Products 23

(iv) The Relations in the Scope of Turkey-ECSC Free Trade Agreement 24

(v) Turkey’s Relations in the Context of Euro-Med Process 24

(vi) Trade Relations Between Turkey and the EC 24

III. A REVIEW OF TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE 27

 

 

 

 

 

I.            economic environment

(1)            Macroeconomic Developments

1.                   The past decades have witnessed a significant transformation in the Turkish economy, from a protected and state-directed system to a free market system, particularly resulting from the reform initiatives since 1980. In this regard, the reforms introduced have, among other things, largely removed price controls and drastically reduced all government subsidies; reduced the role of the public sector in the economy through privatization while reforming the tax system; emphasized growth in the industrial and service sectors; encouraged private investment and savings; liberalized foreign trade, reduced tariffs and promoted export growth. They have also aimed at releasing capital transfer and exchange controls, encouraging foreign investment, and strengthening the independence of the Central Bank. Similarly, since its last TPR, Turkey has made necessary regulations in line with its commitments arising from customs union with the EU and its WTO membership.

2.         These reforms have contributed significantly to the dynamism of the private sector and underpinned the flexibility of the Turkish economy in adapting itself to both internal and external shocks. The dynamism of the private sector and the flexibility of the economy have also been observed in the strong growth performance of Turkish economy in the last decades despite some years of unfavorable international environment and internal imbalances. In particular, the industrial base has been significantly broadened, and exports of goods and services have grown rapidly. Financial markets have become broader and more sophisticated. Although Turkey’s external debt in relation to GNP increased in that period, Turkey continued to service its external debt.

3.            Turkey’s real GNP growth rate averaged 4.0% during the period from 1981 through 2002. Real GNP growth returned to higher levels in the last decade. Excluding the two financial crises in 1994 and 2001, and the earthquake in 1999, the average real GNP growth rate registered as 6.4% in the 1990-2002 period[1].

4.         Since its last TPR in 1998, Turkey has continued its efforts, inter alia, to reduce inflation rate to a reasonable level, improve fiscal performance and reduce public sector borrowing requirement in line with the broader objective of macroeconomic stabilization. To this end, the tight fiscal and income policies under the staff-monitored program signed in June 1998 with the IMF, enabled Turkey to enter into a slow growth period starting from the second quarter of the year. However, the Russian crisis in August 1998 and subsequent financial crises in emerging markets resulting from net capital outflows due to heightened international investor risk aversion had a negative effect on the Turkish economy, causing a decline in domestic demand and exports.

5.         In 1999, the fall in domestic demand accompanied by the global economic slowdown caused the industrial production to decrease with a decline in real GNP by 6.1%. The public sector borrowing requirement grew substantially and reached 15.6% of the GNP in 1999. The main factors behind this development were the rise of the number of personnel in public institutions; and, interest payment and non-interest transfer expenditures. The earthquakes in August and November contributed negatively to the recession period. The continuing recession, high levels of inflation, the deterioration of the public finance balance and the rise in domestic debt stock due to the high levels of real interest rates necessitated a new medium-term program. Reducing the public sector borrowing requirement was the main goal of disinflation program, which was launched in 2000.  It was an exchange rate based stabilization program where TL values of a basket of foreign exchange rates were determined for the first one and a half year period. It was the intention of the policy makers to let the exchange rates fluctuate within a gradually widening band at the end of that period. Moreover, the program set up limits on some fiscal and monetary aggregates, introduced some important structural measures in the agricultural sector, the social security system and fiscal management as well as a privatization program to help achieve the fiscal targets accompanied by an appropriate income policy. As a result, in 2000, the real GNP growth rate registered as 6.3%.

6.         With the implementation of the program, a sharp decline in interest rates was realized because of the increased predictability of the exchange rate and the decline in the risk premium. Important progress was then attained in curbing inflation. This, in turn, contributed to the decrease in the interest expenditures and therefore, led to a relief in the budget[2].

7.                   However, the inertia in the inflation rate led to the real appreciation of foreign exchange rates. The real appreciation, together with the recovery of domestic demand, increase in international oil prices and weakening of the euro, affected the current account balance negatively. The widening of the current account deficit coupled with the delays in the privatization efforts and the structural reforms during the second half of the year had an adverse impact on capital flows, thus leading to increases in short-term interest rates in August 2000.

8.                   An enhanced policy package put into effect in December 2000 and the IMF’s support in the form of Supplementary Reserve Facility helped to restore the confidence in the program and the fluctuations in the markets were removed partially. The Central Bank reserves were restored in a short time and interest rates declined significantly, although remained higher than the pre-crisis levels. Imports slowed down and the decline in inflation continued.

9.                   Shortly after the rearrangement of the targets of the program with the IMF officials, a political dispute in the coalition government eroded the market confidence totally and caused an immense attack to the foreign exchange on 19 February 2001, amounting to a demand of US $ 7.6 billion. The Central Bank attempted to defend the foreign exchange rate with a squeeze in liquidity that was followed by another hike in short-term interest rates. The sharp increase in the interest rates

^[3] did not impede the capital outflows. Besides, the excessive liquidity needs of public banks locked up the whole payments system. Thus, the unsustainability of the foreign exchange regime became rapidly apparent and the crawling peg regime was abandoned on 22 February[4], which was the basic pillar of the 1999 disinflation program.

10.               The 2001 crisis was deep, and thus, triggered the start of a fundamental reform. The authorities responded to the crisis by designing a new economic program, “Strengthening the Turkish Economy”, announced in May 2001. The key structural and social elements of the program were: (i) a macro-framework designed to restore financial stability and ensure public debt sustainability-principally through further tightening of the fiscal policy with a primary surplus target of 5.5% of the GNP in 2001, increasing to 6.5% thereafter; (ii) rapid restructuring of the banking sector -especially restructuring of the state banks and insolvent private banks intervened by the regulatory authority (Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA)- based on large resource transfers from the budget; (iii) a more ambitious program of public sector reforms centered on deeper structural fiscal reforms and institutional reforms to improve public expenditure management and public governance; (iv) a renewed privatization drive in combination with further liberalization measures (particularly in energy, telecommunications and agriculture) and strengthening of the role of independent regulatory bodies to improve the climate for private investment; and (v) strengthening of social assistance to help low income groups adversely affected by the crisis.

11.               Following the crisis of February 2001, the problems of the financial system and their influence on the sustainability of domestic borrowing came on to the agenda as the needs for structural arrangements. As a result, the banking sector was restructured.

12.               With the crises in financial markets, the Turkish economy entered into a recession period. The real GNP shrank by 9.5% in 2001 and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in 2000 to 8.4 % in 2001.

13.               When the revised program had just started to bring up some results, September 11 events happened. Because of that, the goal of continuous lower rates of inflation with sustained higher growth rates remained difficult. In 2001, annual inflation rose sharply, and Turkey was in the midst of its deepest recession for decades, with steep increases in unemployment and widespread difficulties in the corporate sector[5].

14.               After September 11, a new intensified medium-term IMF-supported program was initiated, both to protect the economy from future crises, and to make Turkey’s ambitious reform agenda continue.

(2)            Stabilization Program and Aftermath

15.               The fundamentals of the “Revised Strengthening the Turkish Economy 2002-2004 Program” were to enhance the resilience in the economy against shocks and therefore to decrease the vulnerability in case of any possible crisis. In this respect, the commitments by the government were to carry on the floating exchange rate regime; to officially introduce the inflation targeting framework sometime in 2003 in order to ensure a substantial decrease in inflation rates; to speed up the banking re-structuring program, and to guarantee a sustainable public debt stock position. In line with those medium-term goals, it was announced that the fiscal policy would be implemented in order to achieve a public sector primary surplus of 6.5% of the GNP, while the monetary policy would be consistent with the 35 % inflation rate target in terms of consumer prices.

16.        The monetary policy in 2002 was implemented in order to convince the economic agents that monetary expansion would not be beyond the macroeconomic target levels. In other words, the expansion in monetary base, an item of the Central Bank balance sheet, was set as a target variable, which served as the nominal anchor of the program to lessen the uncertainties in the medium run via its impact on the expectations. The economic agents were assured that the expansion in 2002 money base would be in line with the year-end inflation target as well as the growth rate estimate and it would be closely followed up as the performance criterion. Another performance criterion was the net international reserves, which would not fall below a certain floor limit. In addition to the monetary targeting strategy, the Central Bank stated that it would implement an “implicit inflation targeting” policy consistent with its ultimate aim of price stability and might change short term interest rates considering the future path of inflation rates.

17.        As a result of the above-mentioned revised program, the economy recovered strongly during 2002 despite the ongoing volatility in the financial markets. GNP growth reached 7.8 %, more than twofold of the target rate, 3 %. The strong growth performance was in part due to the recovery from the recession and the piling up of the stocks. In addition, exports and tourism income were also expanded as a response to the real exchange rate adjustment after the 2001 crisis. A rebound in agricultural output at 7 % was another growth indicator. The increase in government spending just before the elections played an important role in sustaining demand in the second half of the year. However, private consumption also started to boost and the fall in private investment was reversed in the last quarter. End-year CPI inflation was just below 30%, the lowest rate in two decades. Over the course of the year, the significant appreciation of the Turkish Lira in real terms, contributed to the fall in inflation rate while confidence in “Lira” returned. This appreciation did not undermine export performance as real wages remained well below pre-crisis levels. In the capital account, the massive short-term outflow of 2001 was halted and the Central Bank’s gross (non-gold) foreign exchange reserves were about US$28 billion at the end of the year.

18.               The strict implementation of the economic program and the structural reforms adopted were the determining factors for the success achieved in the struggle against inflation in 2002. In this context, maintaining the fiscal discipline, implementing wage and salary adjustments in the public sector consistent with the program targets, and the Central Bank’s strict adherence to the monetary program were the main factors which reduced the inflation rate, as well as the inflationary expectations for the future. In 2002, domestic demand was not at a level to create any inflationary pressure, exchange rates displayed a steady fluctuation in the market, the cost of imported inputs decreased as a result of the real appreciation of the Turkish Lira, and the price increases in the food sector remained at their lowest level of the last 15 years. Thus, in 2002 the rate of increase in the wholesale price index and the consumer price index went down to 30.8 % and 29.7 % respectively. The annual target for the wholesale price index was fully met, whereas in the case of the consumer price index the attained level was 5.3 points lower than the targeted level. It was the lowest level of the last sixteen years in the wholesale price index, and that of the last twenty years in the consumer price index.

19.               After November 2002 general elections, the new Government has shown a renewed commitment to the economic reform. The economic program rests on the three-pronged strategy: (i) tight fiscal and monetary policies underpinned by large primary surpluses, a flexible exchange rate, and strong initial IFI support, transition to greater reliance on private flows; (ii) structural measures aimed at correcting the financial and public sector weaknesses underlying the crisis, improving the investment climate, and establishing a more sound basis for disinflation and growth; and (iii) strong social policies including enhanced social dialogue to pursue price and wage policies consistent with macroeconomic stability objectives, and increased emphasis on the protection of the most vulnerable groups of society. This strategy and the specific actions to be completed by the end of 2003 were presented in detail in the Government’s Urgent Action Plan adopted in January. Progress in implementing the Urgent Action Plan started with the 2003 Budget in April, consistent with the primary surplus target.  This was followed by the enactment of some important structural legislation by mid-year including a first phase of the direct tax reform, a new FDI law, institutional strengthening of the social security system and reforms to the Execution and Bankruptcy Law. Besides, the Government approved a new public procurement and public debt management laws. Recently, as a result of an ambitious privatization program, a series of tenders have been launched.

20.               Economic recovery continued in the first half of 2003. As of January-June period of 2003, real GNP growth rate registered as 5.4%. The growth rate realized in this period mainly stemmed from high exports performance and increase in industrial production. The stability gained in the financial markets with the help of the program, the disappearance of political uncertainties after the elections of November 2002 and the end of the Iraqi war sooner than generally expected increased the confidence in the economic program. In fact, optimistic expectations of economic agents increased in the second quarter of 2003.

21.       The economy has responded well to the Government’s recent reforms and the sustained international support. The current export performance and the higher rates in capacity utilization indicate that the 5 % growth rate target is achievable. Consumer and wholesale price increases in the first nine months also bring the year-end target within reach. Domestic interest rates declined sharply with secondary market rates on government securities falling below 35% by late September, compared to 50% in mid-July.  Real interest rates have also declined. On the other hand, the current account has deteriorated, and is now expected to record a US$7.7 billion (3.2% of GNP) deficit in 2003.

22.        The Government’s key program targets for the next two years include economic growth of 5% in 2003 and 2004 and inflation rate falling further to 20% by the end of 2003 and 12% in 2004.  The program aims at ensuring sustainability of the public debt through a combination of economic growth, sustained fiscal adjustment and improved investor confidence. The primary surplus of the consolidated public sector is targeted as 6.5 % of the GNP in 2003 and 2004. After falling significantly in 2002, the ratio of net public sector debt to the GNP is projected to be below 70 % in 2003. Finally, the program targets a further build-up of international reserves based on a recovery of private capital inflows beginning in 2003.

23.               Turkey is undergoing an important economic and political transformation process. The policies are being developed in line with the European Union perspective and the efforts towards fulfillment of economic and political criteria of the European Union are going hand in hand with this transformation.

24.               On the economic side, Turkey is implementing an ambitious economic program of which targets are geared towards fulfilling the Maastricht economic criteria in the near future.

25.               The efforts on the strict implementation of the economic program are expected to produce results both on the inflation and sustainable growth, as well as improve the debt dynamics.

26.        As for the year 2004, outlook for Turkish economy remains positive. The current economic program is expected to expire by the end of 2004. Until then, Turkey will continue with the current program where annual primary surplus target is 6.5 % of the GNP in order to smooth out the high public debt. Reduction of the inflation rate to a single digit over the medium term and the introduction of formal inflation targeting are other important goals of the economic program. The structural reforms mainly aim at scaling down the public sector, further strengthening the financial sector and enhancing the role of private sector.

(3)            Improvement of the Investment Environment in Turkey

27.        Despite its competitive advantages, such as skilled, flexible and business-oriented labor force, a large internal market with a high growth rate and sizable nearby external markets offering diverse market opportunities, FDI inflows to Turkey have not lived up to the potential of the economy. 

28.               Turkey’s share in global FDI flows remains at very low levels with an average of 0.2 % in the world and 0.6 % among the developing countries for the last five years.  According to the Inward FDI Performance Index and Inward FDI Potential Index Prepared by UNCTAD, Turkey is an under-performing country, which can realize only one tenth of its inward FDI potential. By the end of 2002, accumulated foreign direct investment in Turkey amounted to US $ 15.7 billion in terms of actual capital inflows. The total amount of foreign direct investment inflows remained at US $ 590 million in 2002. The average yearly inflows are about US$1 billion.

29.               The Turkish Government pays utmost importance to the improvement of investment environment in Turkey. This endeavor constitutes a strong part of the economic reform program that has been undertaken for the last two years. Within this framework, The Undersecretariat of Treasury and FIAS (Foreign Investment Advisory Service) together launched a study in 2000 in order to identify impediments before foreign investors and the ways to remove them.

30.               The first results of this study started to come out after one and half years and significant progress has been made so far in identification.

31.               Taking into account the findings and recommendations of the diagnostic study and the project on administrative barriers to investment conducted jointly by the Government of Turkey and the FIAS, the Government enacted the “Decree on Improving the Investment Climate in Turkey” on December 11, 2001. This is considered as a part of a national strategy to increase the overall level of income and productivity and raise competitiveness of firms operating in Turkey. The decree established a coordinating body, Coordination Council for the Improvement of Investment Environment (CCIIE), with the mandate to identify and remove regulatory and administrative barriers to private investment.

32.               The Council has been working on existing problems and necessary actions to be taken in such areas as company registration and reporting, employment regulations, sector licenses, land acquisition and site development, taxes and incentives, customs and standards, intellectual property rights, promotion of investment, foreign direct investment legislation and small and medium size enterprises. One core dimension of the reform process is the direct involvement of the private sector in all efforts through disseminating the information to all parties involved and sharing the results obtained over time.

33.               The early results of the reform process have been positive. The government has taken solid steps in compliance with the recommendations of the Council. In this framework, the redesign of the company registration process, the drafting of a new Foreign Direct Investment Law, and the start-up of planning for the establishment of a national investment promotion entity have been completed. Furthermore, the Council efforts have yielded fruitful results in several other areas, such as recruitment of expatriates, sector licensing, customs and intellectual and industrial property rights. In this context:

-              The Law No. 4817 on “Foreign Personnel Working Permits” was put into force on March 6, 2003. The new law regulates the work permits of expatriates in line with international standards;

 

-              “Investment Allowance”, the most important investment incentive measure, is provided for the investors automatically without any obligation to obtain an investment incentive certificate from the Undersecretariat of Treasury.

 

34.               The new Foreign Direct Investment Law has been drafted by taking into consideration the international best practices and the recommendations of the diagnostic study assessing the foreign direct investment legislation. The objective was to have a legal framework, which would be in conformity with the international standards. The new foreign direct investment regime became effective on June 17, 2003 by the promulgation of “Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875” in the Official Gazette. The new law not only complies with the best international standards, such as national treatment, guarantee to transfer proceeds and right to employ key expatriate personnel, but also repeals prior approval procedures for foreign investors and minimum capital requirements to invest in Turkey.

35.               Key features of the new Foreign Direct Investment Law include:

-              Freedom to invest for foreign investors by dropping all former FDI-related screening, approval, share transfer and minimum capital requirements;

-              A policy shift from ex-ante control to a promotion and facilitation approach with minimal ex-post monitoring;

-              Adoption of international standards for definitions of “foreign investor”[6] and “foreign direct investment”[7].  The items that were perceived as means of foreign direct investment were rather limited in the former Law 6224, such as capital in cash, machines and equipment and industrial property rights. The new law has broadened the definition of foreign direct investment. According to the new definition, foreign direct investment is considered as:

-  both establishment of a new company or a branch of a foreign company; and

-  share acquisitions not by means of capital markets or share acquisitions through capital markets where the foreign investor owns 10 % or more of the shares or voting power.[8]

-              Reassurance of existing guarantees with regard to foreign investors’ rights, such as national treatment, guarantee of free transfers, access to real estate, protection against expropriation, resort to international arbitration, and employment of expatriates as key personnel.

 

36.               With the new foreign investment regime, the company registration procedures, which were previously taking almost two and a half months and requiring excessive documentation and approvals from several authorities, have been simplified and streamlined.

37.               Although there have been some investment promotion initiatives underway by several public and private institutions, Turkey at present does not have an agency with a strong and clear mandate, set-up, and budget to carry out effective investment promotion.  The necessity of establishing a concerted and focused investment promotion effort in order to compete effectively with the other countries had been identified by the policy makers who decided to include investment promotion in the reform process.  The technical committee, in charge of identifying investment promotion functions that are consistent with the needs and expectations of Turkey, has made some substantial progress toward setting up a new entity, which will be supported both by public and private sectors.  The draft law establishing “Investment Promotion Agency of Turkey” will be submitted to the Parliament upon completion of the review process by the relevant public authorities.

38.               The institutional framework and the powers of the Agency to be established is designed with a view to effective fulfillment of functions, such as investor servicing, investment generation, image building and policy advocacy.

(4)            Privatization

39.               The Privatization Program, which constitutes an integral part of the irreversible transformation process of Turkey, aims at minimizing government intervention in the economy, while increasing productivity and efficiency of production in general; even further increasing employment and also deepening the existing capital market by promoting wider ownership.

40.               Although Turkey embarked on a plan to privatize a large part of its public sector, the progress has been slow mainly due to the legal obstacles for many years. Upon formation of the political and social consensus on the needs for accelerated privatization and taking into account Turkey’s obligations to adopt the rules and procedures of the EU’s Common Commercial and Competition Policies, a new law (Law No. 4971) has been enacted in August 2003. This was to expedite the privatization process and broaden the mandate of the Privatization Administration by including the privatization of major SEEs, which was previously carried out by the related Ministries or Governmental Bodies. This law also aims at paving the way to the planning, organization and arrangement of the draws of the games and selling off National Lottery through granting licenses. Furthermore, it has enabled the utilization of convertible and exchangeable bonds in the privatization of "Turk Telekom" and merger of Aycell with other GSM operators.

41.               Some crucial steps have been taken to reduce government intervention in the banking sector. Subsequent to the enactment of Law No.4389, banking sector has undergone a comprehensive restructuring reform plan. The banking sector has become stronger and competitive as well as compatible with the EU Acquis after such measures as liquidation, downsizing, elimination of state banks’ crowding out of the overnight money markets and recapitilization of the banks have been taken. The ultimate goal of the government is to abandon banking sector completely and therefore the action plan is underway to privatize Vakıflar Bankası, Halk Bankası and Ziraat Bankası.

42.               Actual revenues accrued from the privatization were around US$11.2 billion during 1986-October 2003, of which US$1.3 billion were from foreign investors and total expenditures (such as transfers to the companies and treasury and capital increase) reached US$11 billion. Foreign Direct Investment in privatization transactions has the top priority. In order to accomplish this major task the legal infrastructure and improvement of the environment for FDI is underway. 2003 privatization program has set forth ambitious targets in compliance with the ongoing economic recovery program and Turkey’s progress towards EU accession. The program is expected to yield sales of US$4 billion, with cash proceeds reaching US$2.1 billion by the end of 2003.

43.               Currently there are major enterprises offered for sale such as crude oil and petroleum refining Tüpraş, Petkim in petrochemicals industry, Tekel–tobacco, Tekel-alcohol (Tobacco Law which enabled the full liberalization of the sector was enacted in 2002), Esgaz & Bursagaz/natural gas distribution companies (Natural Gas Market Law was enacted in 2001) and subsidiaries of Tügsaş in fertilizer business.

44.               As regards with sugar industry, within the context of agricultural reform program & direct income support scheme, the relevant law enacted in the Parliament in 2001. Consequently, privatization strategy has been determined and set out. Within this context, privatization of group of factories/subsidiaries will take place in 2004.

45.               The government is fully committed to open up the domestic and international passenger carrying / air transport services market to full competition. With this target, Turkish Airlines – THY will be privatized.

46.               According to the Law No. 4628, privatizations in the energy sector will be undertaken by the Privatization Administration (PA) within the framework of Law No. 4046 and in accordance with the suggestions of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. As of October 2003, two power generation joint stock companies and one power plant (asset) were transferred to PA’s portfolio. The total assets, which have been taken into the scope of privatization, consist of 11 thermal power plants, 16 hydroelectric & 55 river/stream plants as well as 19 distribution networks. These assets will be taken into the privatization program in due course.

47.               Both the turmoil in global telecom markets, and structural challenges faced with during the previous tenders, which took place in 2000, brought out the need for a change in Turk Telekom’s privatization strategy. A new Law No. 4673 was enacted in 2001, where 100% of the TT was freed up for privatization except for one golden share to address national security and public interest concerns. In addition, 5% of the shares was set as the stake to be sold off to retail domestic investors and employees of TT and the Postal Administration through a public offering. Previously mentioned law also limits foreign ownership of TT to 45%, but does not prevent a foreign partner from acquiring management rights. A Principal Council of Ministers Decree was issued on 30.04.2003, which states that preparations for both the block sale and public offering will be undertaken simultaneously and minimum 51% of the company will be sold off either through block sale, or a series of IPO’s or a combination of both. The Council of Ministers Decree pertaining to approval of the privatization strategy incorporating the final valuation of TT will be issued by the end of October 2003, as agreed with the IMF.

iii.            TRADE POLICIES – DYNAMICS OF TRADE POLICIES

(1)            Implementation of WTO Agreements

(i)    Trade in Goods

(a)            Non-Agricultural Products

48.        As a result of Uruguay Round, for the industrial goods, Turkey provided 29% tariff reduction in compliance with the Marrakesh Protocol.  Apart from this commitment, with the customs union in 1996, Turkey adopted the EU’s Common Customs Tariff for the imports from third countries.  Thus, Turkey provided one of the most comprehensive reductions with respect to average rate of protection applicable in 1986, when the negotiations launched.

49.               Regarding the negotiations on non-agricultural products, Turkey fully supports the mandate provided by the Doha Ministerial Declaration and engages in these negotiations.  Turkey believes that achieving 100% binding rate for all Members should be one of the principal objectives of these negotiations. A more open market for everyone’s products should be target. 

50.        Under the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), Turkey has submitted the list of products included in the first, second, and third phases of integration into GATT 1994. The list for the third phase covers 42.4% of the volume of imports in 1990, including 66 categories. 

Information Technology Products

51.        As one of the participant countries to The Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA) which was signed on 13 December 1996 in Singapore at the conclusion of the first WTO Ministerial Conference, Turkey committed to phase out customs duties on information technology products as of 1 January 2000. Nevertheless, Turkey has completed the integration stages on 1 January 1998 before the deadline.

Preferential Treatment for LLDC’s

52.        In line with the decisions taken in the High Level Meeting for the LLDC’s, which was held in Geneva in 1997 and the relevant provisions of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration, Turkey has launched its unilateral preferential treatment. It has covered 556 products originating in the least developed countries to be imported into Turkey as duty-free, excluding two products[9].

53.        These products have been covered by the GSP regime of Turkey since 1 January 2002. Turkey granted preferential treatment to the least developed and developing countries under GSP (General System of Preferences) scheme in line with EU’ s scheme at that time. In this context, 2884 tariff lines (including 556 products mentioned above) originating in the least developed countries could be imported into Turkey as duty free. These products originating in developing countries could also be imported into Turkey at reduced rates on MFN basis parallel with the EU’ s GSP scheme.

(b)            Agricultural Products

54.        In accordance with the Agreement on Agriculture, Turkey bound 100 % of duties on agricultural products and undertook to reduce the agricultural tariffs by 24 % on a simple average basis, with a minimum reduction rate of 10% for each tariff line over a 10 year period (to be completed by 2004).

55.               As a developing country, Turkey gives priority to the ongoing negotiations on agricultural products. In developing countries, the majority of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Therefore, the results of the agreement will not only have economic but also social effects. Since developing countries cannot provide necessary and sufficient support to their domestic agriculture, tariffs are the only instrument to protect the agricultural sectors against highly subsidized imports mainly from the developed countries. Developing countries also need to support their agricultural sector to sustain agricultural production. However, government support remains at negligible levels in these countries, including Turkey, because of the budgetary constraints. Therefore, without any substantial reductions in the other pillars of the Agreement, tariff reductions could not generate fair and improved market conditions.

(c)        Rules

Anti-Dumping and Subsidies

56.        Turkey enacted its first anti-dumping and subsidy code in 1989, namely, the Legislation on Prevention of Unfair Competition in Importation, comprising of the Law No: 3577, Decree No: 89/14506 and the Regulation. Following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, the rules and principles regarding anti-dumping and subsidies and countervailing measures had changed and hence there was a need to modify the existing legislation. Accordingly, Turkey amended its legislation in compliance with its obligations under the WTO and the Customs Union with the European Communities. Consequently, the Law No: 4412 was ratified as an amendment to the Law No: 3577 on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports and published in the Official Gazette No: 23766 dated 25/7/1999. The said Law came into effect three months after it had been published in the Official Gazette. The Decree No: 99/13482 and the Regulation on the Prevention of Unfair Competition in Imports were published in the Official Gazette No: 23861 dated 30/10/1999 and entered into force on the same date. The new legislation was notified to the WTO and discussed at the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices and Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

57.            Following the accession of People’s Republic of China to the WTO, the above-mentioned Regulation was amended to include an additional article dealing with imports from non-market economy countries[10]. This last amendment was also notified to the WTO.

58.        The new legislation, which came into effect with the Law No: 4412, sets forth the rules and principles regarding the procedures to be applied and measures to be taken in order to counteract injury caused by dumped or subsidized imports.

Safeguards

59.        Turkey has had Safeguard Legislation in compliance with the Agreement on Safeguards of the WTO since June 1, 1995. After the accession of People’s Republic of China to the WTO, Turkey amended its legislation according to the Article 16 of the Accession Protocol on May 28, 2003.

60.        Since increasing number of safeguard measures are taken by the WTO members, Safeguards Agreement and its implementation have become main trade policy instruments in the world.

(d)            Technical Barriers to Trade

61.               The agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade of the WTO has been implemented in Turkey since 1 January 1995 and an Enquiry Point of TBT was set up in line with the Agreement.[11]

62.               Since the end of 2002, the notifications have been exchanged by means of electronic communication. This way, distribution of the notifications is handled in a more quick and effective manner, and information about the draft regulations is easily accessed by all actors of trade.

63.               Participation of the private sector into the notification mechanism is also encouraged to ensure transparency and enable the exporters get informed immediately about the regulations and implementation in the targeted countries.

(ii)   Services

64.               Services sector is important for the Turkish economy. In the Eighth Development Plan period (2003-2008) it is estimated that the annual average growth rate of the value added would be 7.5% in services sector, while the share of services in GDP is expected to rise from 59.5% to 62.2%[12] for the given period.

65.               Since Turkey's last trade policy review in 1998, significant changes have been realized in many services sectors resulting from the changes in institutional and legal regulations as well as the technical and economic developments. The developments are particularly in the telecommunications services and banking sector. In the telecommunications services, the independent regulatory body was established on 27 January 2000, and the final date of the monopoly of Turk Telekom on voice telephony was brought forward to 31 December 2003, from 31 of December 2005. Regarding the banking sector; related legislation and regulations were designed in line with the international best practice. In particular, the Banking Law (No. 4398) effective as of June 1999, delegates the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) as the independent authority to regulate and supervise the banking sector. The BRSA has started to operate in August 2000.

66.               Turkey recognizes the growing importance of trade in services for the growth and development of the world economy and believes that by the effective application of the GATS, the efficiency and competitiveness of the services sectors of the developing countries will increase and expansion of their services exports will be achieved.

67.               By taking into account the developments realized in services sectors, Turkey has been actively and constructively engaged in trade in services negotiations, since their inception in 2000. In this context, Turkey has submitted its initial conditional services offer to the WTO on 15 August 2003 and it was circulated on 3 September 2003 as a document TN/S/O/TUR.

(iii)  Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights

68.               Turkey has introduced some changes to its intellectual property regime since its last TPR as part of its harmonization efforts towards adopting EU's legislation on intellectual property rights (IPR) and its commitments under the WTO TRIPS Agreement.

69.               One of the important achievements in this area was enactment of the Law No. 4630, which was put into force on 3 March 2001. Being the main piece of legislation on copyrights, the Law No. 4630 has amended the Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works. The main aim of this Law is to fulfill Turkey's obligations under both the Acquis Communautaire and the TRIPS Agreement by increasing the penal provisions (which is 2-6 years of imprisonment and TL10-150 billion fee currently) and by amending the rights of the author and related rights, such as performers having neighboring rights, producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations, and rights of film producers. Protection is provided for the lifetime of an author plus 70 years after his/her death.

70.               The law includes software as a literary work, and provides for the establishment of more than one professional union in the same area.  Right of communication to the public, including the Internet, has been added through the amendment carried out in Article 25 of the Law. This arrangement shall enable sales of the works of art by means of electronic commerce upon permission of the author. Rearrangements have been made in provisions related to the rights of the authors and financial and moral rights of the related right owners and fundamental and exclusive rights like reproduction, transmission and public transmission through amendments carried out in Article 80 of the Law.

71.               Within this arrangement, film producers are also included among the related right owners. Additional Article 4 to the Law sets the protection of the information related to the works and the figures or codes representing that information in the way determined by the authors or right owners during communication and of those works to the public, including the internet. Furthermore, arrangements including effective mechanisms and deterrent penalties are set within the scope of combating piracy. Within this framework, Anti-piracy Inspection Commissions have been set up in 81 cities, measures preventing the importation of pirated copies have been taken, specialized courts have been set up, the penalties for the repetition of the crime have been increased.  The law envisages closing of the businesses, which reproduce pirate copies, and implementation of 4-6 years of imprisonment and TL 50-150 billion of fee in case of infringement.

72.               As a consequence, in the field of “copyrights and related rights”, the legal structure is almost harmonized with international arrangements. However, it is observed that, still there exist some problems to be removed, stemming from the insufficiency in domestic institutional infrastructure and practices in this field.

73.               Currently a new administrative structure is under consideration to ensure implementation of the related legislation and combating against piracy. An institute under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism or a separate but affiliated institute is under consideration to follow legal arrangements, to implement the rules concerning the intellectual property rights in an effective way and to carry out the procedural issues related to those rights.

74.               In the field of “industrial property rights”, legal and institutional framework have been completed and implemented largely with the establishment of Turkish Patent Institute in 1994. Within this context, legal arrangements for protection of patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications came into force in 1995. Patent protection for pharmaceutical process and products was introduced in harmony with the Turkey-EU Association Council Decision on 1 January 1999. Moreover, studies concerning the legal protection of integrated circuit topographies have reached at the final stage.

75.               The patent and trademark agent system, an important element for structural framework of industrial property rights infrastructure, has been arranged. However, a patent and trademark agent union could not be established yet. A draft law has been prepared and submitted to the opinion of relevant institutions.

76.               In order to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights two specialized courts were set up in 2001 in Istanbul, where IPR cases are relatively intensive in comparison with other cities (almost half of the total number of cases happen in Istanbul).

77.               On the other hand, a pilot project[13] funded by European Union reached the implementation stage in 2002. The overall objective is to enable Turkey to meet its commitments on intellectual, industrial and commercial property in accordance with the Agreement on European Community-Turkey Customs Union. The project envisages the development of human resources by training specialized judges; creation of infrastructure by establishing an IT network between Ministry of Justice, the specialized courts, customs administrations and the specialized documentation center; and establishing of a specialized IPR documentation center; and increasing the awareness in the public and private sector.

78.               The decision on the venues of new seven specialized IPR courts has been given by Supreme Council for Judges and Public Prosecutors.  Accordingly, based on the density and civil or penal natures of IPR cases throughout the country; the places of specialized courts are designated as Istanbul (in addition to previous two courts; two civil and two penal), Izmir (one penal), and Ankara (one civil, one penal).

79.               In the context of enforcement of intellectual property rights before courts in Turkey, it should be noted that courts play role in different areas: firstly, civil actions; secondly, penal actions; thirdly, on domestic arbitral awards; and lastly, on recognition and execution of foreign civil courts’ judgments and arbitral awards on intellectual property issues.

(iv)       Investment

80.               Trade and investment liberalization has gained weight in the globalization of the world economy in the last decades. In this line, Turkey attributed utmost importance to the foreign investment and pursued liberal foreign investment policies since 1980's. In this context, the new foreign direct investment regime became effective on June 17, 2003 by the publication of “Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875” in the Official Gazette. (Section I. (iii)) The new law is compatible with the WTO rules and the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) Agreement.

81.               The investment encouragement system consists of two main programs, namely “The General Investment Encouragement Program (GIEP)” and “Aids Granted to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises’ (SMEs) Investments”. GIEP is mainly a tax benefit program with some credit possibilities, whereas the SME incentive system provides for the opportunity to benefit from investment and operational credit supports besides tax incentives.

82.               The system does not provide any subsidy specific to an industry or enterprise and it is rather a regional and horizontal system. In addition, recently the investment encouragement mechanism has been subject to a change in which tax based incentives have largely become automatic measures and the focus of the system shifted mainly towards promoting SMEs investments, creating new employment, R&D, environmental protection, technology development, increasing competitiveness, and reorienting the investments aiming at reducing regional imbalances within the country in-line with international commitments and WTO rules.

(2)            Turkey-EC Full Membership Process

(i)    Recent Developments in Turkey-EC Relations

83.        The Helsinki European Council held on 10-11 December 1999 produced a breakthrough in Turkey-EC relations. At Helsinki, Turkey was officially recognized without any precondition as a candidate state on an equal footing with the other candidate states. Thus, Turkey, like the other candidates, became eligible to benefit from a pre-accession strategy to stimulate and support its reforms. Specifically, a single framework for coordinating all sources of EC financial assistance for pre-accession was created. Furthermore, Turkey is also eligible to participate in the Community programs open to other candidate countries and agencies.

84.        With the inclusion of Turkey in the enlargement process, Turkey’s obligation to align with the Acquis Communautaire covered by the Customs Union was extended so as to cover the whole Acquis and accordingly the parties had to take the necessary measures to accelerate the harmonization process.

85.               Accordingly, the Council approved the Accession Partnership on 8 March 2001 and the Framework Regulation concerning EC’s financial assistance to Turkey on 26 February 2001. The Accession Partnership document sets priority areas where Turkey is expected to further its alignment to EC Acquis and determines EC’s financial schemes that will support Turkey within the accession process.

86.               Within this context, Turkey is to complete its alignment to the Acquis Communautaire, to reinforce its existing administrative structures as well as the establishment of the new ones in various fields, such as technical legislation, state aids, public procurement and customs.

87.               The Framework Regulation, on the other hand, constitutes the legal basis of the Accession Partnership with regard to the priorities and conditions, as well as financial and technical resources that Turkey will be entitled to exploit during the pre-accession period.

88.               After the approval of the Accession Partnership, Turkish government announced its own National Program for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA) on 19 March 2001. With this document, Turkey heralds a new beginning in its efforts in various fields such as democratization, human rights and liberal economic policies, as well as common market policies.

89.               The National Program has been edited with a careful appreciation of the requirements of Turkey as spelled out in the Accession Partnership. This comprehensive document demonstrates the will of Turkey to adopt the EC Acquis in all relevant areas that are required for the accession to the EC. More specifically, it lays down the tasks to be accomplished within the short and medium terms and, thus, clarifies the responsibilities of the institutions within the harmonization process.

90.               Following these important developments, the Turkey-EU Association Council began to meet regularly. The Association Council met three times, in Luxembourg on April 11 2000, June 26, 2001 and April 16, 2002. In the meeting on April 11 2000, 8 sub-committees were established to carry out an analytical examination of the level of harmonization of the Turkish legislation with the Acquis Communautaire. In the subsequent meetings, progress achieved within the framework of Turkey’s pre-accession strategy was evaluated and a number of decisions were taken, concerning Turkey’s participation in Community programs, providing Turkey with full access to TAIEX offices and the establishment of joint consultation mechanisms that will convene regularly in order to discuss trade matters related to the Customs Union.

91.               On the eve of the Copenhagen European Council of December 2002, Turkey-EC relations have gained a new impetus. With a view to meeting the accession criteria, Turkey has accelerated its efforts along the path set by the National Program. Of all these arrangements, the most comprehensive one has become the major review of the Turkish Constitution.

92.               After the constitutional amendments made in October 2001, the Turkish Parliament adopted a new Civil Code, which entered into force on 1 January 2002 and introduced improvements notably concerning the freedom of association and the right to assembly, as well as gender equality and child protection. The efforts for reform were pursued by seven legislative packages since February 2002.

93.               On the economic front, in line with the National Program and in response to the serious economic crisis that Turkey has been going through, numerous reform measures have been adopted. In terms of the economic criteria, Turkey has restructured its financial sector, ensured transparency in public finance, and enhanced competitiveness and efficiency in the economy. The structural reforms have already started to yield tangible results and considerable progress has been made in meeting the priorities envisaged in our National Program.

94.               Work on the harmonization of Turkish legislation with the Acquis also continues unabated. Turkey’s alignment with the Community Acquis have been analyzed and developed since 2000 by the eight sub-committees. Thus, Turkey is technically ready for the accession negotiations.

95.               The Laeken European Council of 14-15 December 2001 had important implications for EU-Turkey relations in general and the accession process in particular. Foremost among these is the possibility of opening accession negotiations with Turkey, which for the first time has been explicitly mentioned at the highest levels. Another important decision taken at Laeken was that, Turkey began to take part in the Convention on the Future of Europe on an equal basis with the other candidates. This was considered as a progressive step, in the sense that Turkey was considered as part of the Union’s common future.

96.               The Seville European Council of 21-22 June 2002 welcomed the reforms adopted in Turkey and stated that “the implementation of the required political and economic reforms will bring forward Turkey’s prospects of accession in accordance with the same principles and criteria as are applied to the other candidate countries”. It was also mentioned that new decisions could be taken in the Copenhagen European Council in December 2002 on the next stage of Turkey’s candidacy in the light of the developments in the situation between Seville and Copenhagen European Councils, and based on the regular report to be submitted by the Commission in October 2002.

97.               Another important benchmark as regards Turkey’s accession process has become decisions taken at the Copenhagen European Council. Presidency Conclusions reads “if the European Council in December 2004, on the basis of a report and a recommendation from the Commission, decides that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria, the European Union will open accession negotiations with Turkey without delay”. Accordingly, Copenhagen Summit has initiated a new era during which both Turkey and the EC will need to take comprehensive measures as regards Turkey’s accession to the EC.

98.               As it was decided at the Copenhagen European Council, to strengthen the accession strategy for Turkey, the revised Accession Partnership prepared by the Commission was published in the Official Journal of the EC on 12 June 2003.

99.               In order to prepare for membership, Turkey has prepared the revised National Program for the adoption of the Acquis parallel with the priorities and intermediate objectives established in the Accession Partnership. It was published in the Official Gazette on 24 July 2003.

100.            Lastly, in the Thessaloniki European Council held on 19-20 June 2003, European Council took decisions regarding Turkey. According to the Presidency Conclusions, Turkey like Bulgaria and Romania, will participate in the Intergovernmental Conference, which will complete the EC’s Constitution as observers. In addition, the Presidency Conclusions states that European Council welcomes the commitment of the Turkish Government to carry forward the reform process and supports Turkey’s ongoing efforts in order to fulfill the Copenhagen political criteria for opening accession negotiations with the EC.

(ii)       Harmonization Efforts After the Customs Union

101.            In the context of the Customs Union, which entered into force on 1 January 1996, Turkey applies 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 furniture. With the end of the five years transitional period on 01.01.2001, the customs duties applicable to those products were lowered to the level of EC’s common customs tariffs as well.

102.            With the Customs Union, Turkey’s weighted average rates of protection through customs duties on industrial imports from the EC and EFTA countries dropped from approximately 10% to zero. For products imported from the third countries, the rates in question declined from approximately 15% to 5.6% in 1996. By January 2003, the average of customs duties fell further to 4.4%.

103.            Developments in the world trade, as well as the present degree of integration in Europe changed the previous definition of the Turkey-EC Customs Union in a broader context to include implementation of identical commercial and competition rules applicable to both in bilateral trade and in trade with third countries. In order to prevent trade diversion and facilitate proper functioning of the Customs Union, Decision No 1/95 obliges Turkey to adopt EC’s Common Commercial and Competition Policies. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Customs Union Decision, Turkey adopted measures, which are substantially similar to those of the Community’s commercial policy in the following fields:

-              Common rules for imports,

-              Administration of quotas,

-              Protection against dumped or subsidized imports,

-              New Commercial Policy Instrument,

-              Common rules for imports from certain third countries,

-              Common rules on textile imports,

-              Common rules for exports,

-              Officially supported export credits,

-              Autonomous arrangements on textile imports,

-              Standardization on foreign trade,

-              Preferential regime of the Community,

-              Inward processing regime,

-              Outward processing regime.

 

104.            Turkey has also progressively aligned itself to the EC’s preferential and autonomous regimes. In this respect, the Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and the EFTA States, which was signed in 1991, was the first step on the way to the adoption of the preferential regimes of the EU.

105.            Free Trade Agreements entered into force on 1 April 1992 with the EFTA States, on 1 May 1997 with Israel, on 1 February 1998 with Romania, on 1 March 1998 with Lithuania, on 1 April 1998 with Hungary, on 1 July 1998 with Estonia, on 1 September 1998 with Czech and Slovak Republics, on 1 January 1999 with Bulgaria, on 1 May 2000 with Poland, on 1 June 2000 with Slovenia, on 1 July 2000 with Latvia, on 1 September 2000 with Macedonia, and finally on 1 July 2003 with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

106.            The Agreements with Hungary, Czech and Slovak Republics, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia will be terminated as of 1 May 2004, since these countries will become EU members.

107.            On the other hand, FTA negotiations continue with Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Faroe Islands, Lebanon, Palestine and Albania. Draft texts of agreements have been sent to Malta, Jordan, Mexico, South Africa, Algeria, Serbia and Montenegro and Syria in order to initiate FTA negotiations with these countries as well. Turkey would rather complete the negotiations of all those agreements timely, either together with the EU or just after the EU. It would therefore be serving to the common interests of the customs union partners. Because otherwise, as it has been the case, any delay creates absolute disadvantages to the other partner, like Turkey, in terms of competitiveness and proper functioning of the customs union. The opportunity cost of incomplete agreements is also reflected in limited gains from less global market access such as in services and goods.

108.            As part of the process, Turkey became a member of the Pan-European Cumulation System as of 1 January 1999, which facilitates the free flow of trade without origin barriers between the EC, EFTA and Central and Eastern European Countries.

109.            Furthermore, EC’s General System of Preferences (GSP) has been adopted by 1 January 2002 partly for 2456 products, by taking account of our domestic needs and interests. An additional list of 428 products was also included in the scope of the Regime with the Import Regime 2003.

110.            One of the most important aspects of the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union is Turkey’s adoption of the EC’s textiles and clothing restraints as part of the Common Commercial Policy measures, in conformity with the Article XXIV of GATT 1994. The quantitative restrictions and surveillance measures applied by the EU on some textiles and clothing products originating in certain third countries are an integral part of this Policy. Therefore, for the sake of the customs union in terms of free movement of goods, Turkey adopted those measures.

111.            In this context, after inviting countries concerned to enter into consultations beforehand, all restrictions and surveillance measures were put into force as of 1 January 1996, and Turkey started to apply exactly the same measures for 52 countries, as of those of the EC. Unless Turkey had put these measures into force, trade diversion would have occurred between the Parties and this could have prevented the proper functioning of the Customs Union. Now, Turkey just like the EC applies these measures to 39 countries[14].

112.            In the double checking system, the quota levels are determined bilaterally and the control of the trade flow is given to the authorities of the exporting countries through the issuance of the export licenses whereas, in the single checking system the quota levels are determined unilaterally and the quotas are distributed among importers in accordance with the past performance criteria by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade. For the new importers in the market, a share is also provided on the "first come-first served" basis.

113.            These arrangements are based on the provisions of the agreements on trade in textile products between the European Union and the related countries. Memorandums of Understanding contain similar provisions on rules of origin, classification of goods, import and export procedures, inward processing and outward processing trade.

114.            Since the trade volume of the previous years and the trade potential between the Parties were fully taken into account in determining the levels of the quantitative restrictions, the conclusion of the Memorandums of Understanding and the restraints applied without an agreement do not negatively affect traditional trade flows between the Parties.  On the other hand, the surveillance measures, which only aim at following the trade statistics, do not foresee any quantitative restrictions.

115.            All these measures and the latest developments with respect to the abolishment of the restraints were already notified to the appropriate WTO bodies.

116.            In accordance with articles 8-11 of the Association Council Decision 1/95, Turkey-EC Association Council took decision (2/97) on elimination of technical barriers to trade in April 1997. Since that date, Turkey has achieved a great progress concerning the full implementation of EC’s technical standards and conformity assessment practices.

117.            Recently, the Framework Law, which was prepared with the aim of providing an effective implementation of the technical legislation that are being harmonized entered into force in the beginning of 2002. The draft texts of five implementing Regulations, which lay down the implementing principles and procedures of the Framework Law, were also prepared. Four out of five Regulations have entered into force along with the Framework Law.

118.            Besides, Turkey has a commitment for harmonizing EU’s regime against third countries. In this context, in the process of transposing 339/93/EEC Regulation on Checks For Conformity with the Rules on Product Safety in the Case of Products Imported From Third Countries, in order to establish necessary infrastructure and provide technical information assistance, Turkey has been engaging in a project in cooperation with the Netherlands in the scope of its MATRA/PSO Program for candidate countries.     

119.            On the other hand, Turkey has the Regime for Technical Regulations and Standardization for Foreign Trade, which consists of a Decree (No. 96/7794), a regulation and number of Communiqués. It was first put into force in 1995 and continues to regulate the standardization activities since then. It is a transitional regime that is revised annually. The aim of the regime is to prevent technical legislation, specifications and standards applied in foreign trade from constituting an obstacle to international trade.

120.            The Turkish National Accreditation Council, which is the main step for the implementation of the EC’s legislation on the removal of technical barriers to trade, has been established. The Law on the Organization and Functions of the “Turkish Accreditation Council (TÜRKAK)” was enacted and entered into force on 4 November 1999. TÜRKAK has started to accept the accreditation applications as of August 2001. In addition, it has been the member of European Co-operation for Accreditation since 28 November 2002. This Council will function as an independent regulatory body in the system.

121.            Furthermore, recently, Turkish Standards Institution applied for the membership of European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). At present, it has an observer status in CEN and CENELEC.

122.            A great degree of progress was achieved with the entry into force of laws on protection of competition and protection of consumers, as well as Decree Laws on patents, copyrights, trade marks and industrial designs, all of which ensure the implementation of internationally recognized norms of competition in Turkey.

123.            A Decree on state aid compatible with the system in force in the EC and the relevant provisions of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures has entered into force. This Decree limits the scope of state aids to research and development, protection of environment, market research and promotion activities abroad. In order to enforce the law on protection of competition, the Board of Competition has been recently established. Currently, the works on the establishment of a central state aid authority have been continued.

124.            In accordance with the obligations laid down in Article 42 of the Association Council Decision No 1/95, Turkey is entitled to adjust state monopolies of commercial character so as to ensure that no discrimination exists between the nationals of the Member States and of Turkey regarding the conditions which goods are procured and marketed. Turkey’s harmonization in this field is achieved with the entry into force of “Law on the Monopoly of Alcohol and Alcoholic Drinks” amending the Law No. 4250 on 20 January 2001.

125.            On the other hand, Tobacco Law was published on 9.1.2002 in the Official Gazette No: 24635. The new Tobacco Law introduces a new arrangement for the alcoholic beverages and transfers TEKEL's regulatory rights such as licensing, by separating them from the commercial activities of production and distribution, to an independent body namely, "Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Alcoholic Beverages Market Regulatory Board". The Board, established on 20 July 2002 with the appointment of its members, will draft the implementing rules in conformity with the obligations set out in the Decision 1/95.

(iii)       Turkey-EC Trade in Agricultural Products

126.            Turkey and the EC have agreed to extend the preferential regime in basic agricultural products with a view to assisting Turkey to adapt its agricultural policy to that of the EU. In that respect, a series of negotiations on better market access possibilities for agricultural products have been held between the Parties during the period 1993-1997.

127.            As a result of these negotiations, the Parties concluded the Decision No 1/98 of the Turkey-EC Association Council, which entered into force as of 1 January 1998 and still rules the preferential trade regime for agricultural products between the Parties.

128.            In the context of the Decision No 1/98, apart from full ad valorem exemption on all agricultural products Turkey acquired concessions in a number of products including tomato paste, poultry meat, sheep and goat meat, olive oil, cheese, certain fruits and vegetables, hazelnuts, fruit marmalade and jams in the form of duty exemption/reduction, within tariff quotas or without any quantity restrictions.  Similarly, Turkey has granted concessions to the EC in the form of tariff quotas on live bovine animals, frozen meat, butter, cheese, seeds of vegetables and flowers, flower bulbs, apples, peaches, potatoes, cereals, refined or raw vegetable oil, sugar, tomato paste and some animal food.

(iv)      The Relations in the Scope of Turkey-ECSC Free Trade Agreement

129.            The Customs Union is reinforced with a free trade agreement signed on 26 July 1996 on products covered by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Since the entry into force on 1 August 1996 (WT/REG 22/1/Add.1), EU removed immediately all the tariffs on ECSC products of Turkish origin whereas Turkey had abolished its customs duties on ECSC products except for 142 items for which customs duties were gradually abolished and exterminated in 1999.

130.            On the other hand, with the expiration of the ECSC Agreement on 24 July 2002, the rights and obligations under the ECSC were taken over by the EC itself.

(v)   Turkey’s Relations in the Context of Euro-Med Process

131.            Turkey is a party to the Barcelona Process, which aims at establishing the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by the year 2010 as a target date, through completion of the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements between the EC and 12 Mediterranean Countries, together with the free trade agreements between the Mediterranean Countries themselves. The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area also envisages to link EC and 12 Mediterranean Countries together through the Euro-Mediterranean Cumulation of Origin System.

(vi)  Trade Relations Between Turkey and the EC

132.            With the completion of the Customs Union, Turkish economy has integrated with an important economic bloc of the world. Obviously, it has become the biggest impetus to Turkish economy since the adoption of liberalization measures of the early 1980’s. With the customs union, Turkey has opened its internal market to the competition of the EC and third countries, while guaranteeing free access to the EC market. Accordingly, in the course of its six-year implementation, both positive and negative reflections of the Customs Union have been experienced.

133.            The EC is clearly the biggest trade partner of Turkey. In 2002, the EC accounts for 51.3% of total exports and 45.4% of total imports. Turkey is an important trade partner of the EC as well. The foreign trade statistics of the EC for the year 2002 demonstrate that Turkey ranks eleventh at imports and tenth at exports of the EC with shares of 2.13% and 2.47% respectively.

134.            The Customs Union has strengthened the traditionally comprehensive trade relations. The volume of trade between Turkey and the EC reached to the level of US$41.5 billion in 2002 from the level of US$27.9 billion in 1995.

Table I. Turkey’s Total Exports and Imports

 

* Million US Dollars.

**For the period of January-July.

 

Table II. Turkey’s Exports to and Imports from the EC

 

*Million US Dollars.

**For the period of January-July.

135.            Even though imports from the EC has fluctuated in parallel with internal and external macro economic developments, increase rate of imports has exceeded increase rate of exports following the customs union. During the period of 1995-2000, imports from the EC has increased by 57.8%, while exports to the EC has experienced an increase of 30.9%. Yet, this trend reversed in 2001 and some positive developments were observed in trade balance with the EC. (Table I and II)

136.            Following the completion of the customs union in 1996, imports have experienced a sharp increase, while increase in exports was moderate. Accordingly, Turkey faced a large trade deficit. Substantial reductions in protection rates and lack of appropriate macroeconomic measures to compensate the revenue loss played an important role in this process.

137.            To the large extent, the increase in foreign trade deficit is attributed to the customs union. Nevertheless, it should be noted that Turkey, during that period, has experienced a growth performance of 7%, which is above the OECD average, and imports of investment and intermediate goods has displayed a great increase accordingly. In contrast, in 1999 and 2001 where national income experienced substantial declines, imports from both the EC and third countries decreased significantly. Therefore, the role played by internal and external economic factors should not be ignored while considering the increase in imports observed after the Customs Union.

138.            On the other hand, exports to both the EC and third countries have exhibited an increasing trend. Despite the fact that this increase was far below the expectations before the customs union, a stable market share in the EC has been guaranteed. During the period of 1995-2000, the imports of the EC from the third countries decreased by 19%, yet Turkey maintained its share of 1.7% in the EC imports.

139.            Moreover, the product composition of exports started to transform parallel to changing production scales and structure due to the improved competition conditions and market access advantages resulting from the Customs Union. Apart from traditional sectors like textile and clothing or iron and steel, certain high value added sectors such as durable goods and automotive increased both their shares in total exports and improved their competitiveness in the EC and world market.

140.            After the Customs Union, Turkey’s share in imports of the EC from third countries increased substantially in such sectors as automobile industry, electrical machinery and equipment, iron and steel, while its share in textile and apparel exports displayed a limited increase rising from 9.4% to 10.7%. The share of agricultural products in the EC’s imports has remained unchanged at 3%.

141.            On the other hand, Turkey has not experienced a major change in the composition of imports following the Customs Union. Currently, imports of inputs and investment goods constitute 86.7% of total imports. Yet, imports of consumer goods, which have high income and demand elasticity, increased at a relatively high rate due to reduction in protection rates and changes in national income and improved their share in total imports to 13.2% in 2000 from 6.9% in 1995. Parallel to declines in income, share of these products in imports declined to 14.2% in 2001 and 13.7% in 2002.

142.            After the Customs Union, share of investment goods in imports from the EC remained unchanged, while share of intermediate goods declined. Essentially, imports of intermediate goods from third countries increased at a higher rate than the imports of those goods from EC. In 1995-2000 period, imports of intermediate goods from the EC increased by 33.9%, while increase in imports of intermediate goods from third countries was 48.9%. The decrease in the protection rates previously applied to third countries and the exemption from customs tariffs granted in the scope of inward processing regime to support exporting manufacturers had an influence over the emergence of such a development.

143.            A general observation for the post-customs union period is that imports have expanded faster than the exports. The composition of imports, which depends heavily on intermediate and investment goods for the needs of the manufacturing industries, has been shaping the volume of imports. Hence, any internal or external macro economic development has had a direct effect on the volume of imports. Imports decline in the periods of economic contraction, while improves in the periods of economic recovery.

144.            When it comes to exports, the expected increase has not been realized. This development can be attributed largely to contraction in external markets and challenging competition conditions resulting from Asian and Russian financial crises. Moreover, adverse shocks experienced in Turkey with respect to exchange rates, interest rates and investment have played role as well.

145.            In sum, the Customs Union locked in reforms towards liberalization in Turkey and accelerated the regional integration process, which will shape the external trade relations in the future. The openness rate of Turkey, which is the share of total trade volume in GNP, increased to 48.3% in 2002 from 30.6% in 1994.

146.            Developments experienced so far indicate that the Customs Union exposing Turkish industry to intense international competition, has launched a challenging process, which will ensure the integration of Turkey to the new world order. Our sectors have adapted themselves to the competition environment thanks to their dynamic structures and flexible production structures. Moreover, the fact that this is achieved without any substantial financial aid from the EC reflected the dynamism and competitiveness of the Turkish economy.

III.       A REVIEW OF TURKISH FOREIGN TRADE

147.            Throughout the period following the great transformation of Turkey’s economic and trade policies in early 1980s, Turkish foreign trade has continuously expanded under liberal trade policies. From 1980 to 2000s, Turkey established a free market economy, liberalized its foreign trade and highly integrated with global economic system. The foreign trade policies, shaped as a result of this transformation process, have been based on an export-oriented industrialization model.

148.            Turkey’s foreign trade policies in the future will also focus on improving exports of high value added products and high level technology intensive products. Also, Turkey plans to implement a market access strategy targeting at new export markets and cooperate with others to overcome non-tariff barriers that might exist in those markets.

149.            As trade in goods and services are increasingly performed online, one of the main objectives of Turkey in the near future is to establish the required technical and legal infrastructure for electronic commerce and to guide Turkish firms to participate more actively in electronic commerce.

150.            Today, the membership to the WTO and the customs union with European Union are Turkey’s two major economic involvements, which heavily determine future direction of Turkey’s foreign trade. Within the framework of regulations and rules of these two determiners, and parallel to requirements of its own open market model, Turkey is undoubtedly going to follow liberal economic and trade policies in future as well.

151.            On the other hand, the customs union with the EU is not an ultimate stage in Turkey-EU relations. It is rather an intermediary stage of an economic union on the way to full membership.

152.            Starting from the QUAD countries (the US, EU, Canada and Japan) an overall review of Turkish trade in bilateral and regional perspectives would give us the picture of the general structure of commercial links of Turkey as a country that bridges different groups of countries with respect to their production patterns, economic and political structures, and different geographies and cultures. For this purpose, here will be taken major trading partners of Turkey with figures in merchandise exports and imports to reflect the recent trends in bilateral trade and then will be pointed out some regional initiatives that Turkey involves in a broader perspective.

153.            As mentioned before, as the main trading partner, European Union covers half of the total trade volume of Turkey. Turkey, as a candidate country to the Union, and having a customs union has largely harmonized its trade regime and created new opportunities on a wide scale of areas for the two sides and third parties.

154.            As an important trading partner, Turkey’s trade with the USA continues its increasing trend. By the significant increase in the volume of trade between Turkey and the USA over the last decade, Turkish imports from the USA. reached approximately to US $ 3,1 billion in 2002, while Turkish exports to the USA were US $ 3,2 billion in the same year.

155.            On the other hand, the bilateral trade between Turkey and Canada has also shown an increasing trend in recent years.  In 2002, Turkey’s imports from Canada were registered as US $ 305 million, and Turkey’s exports to Canada were realized as US $ 236 million.

156.            Turkish exports to Japan has shown a stable trend, ranging around US $ 100-200 million, while Turkish imports from Japan has shown a fluctuating trend. In 2002, Turkish imports from Japan were realized as US $ 1.46 billion and Turkish exports to Japan were registered as US $ 129 million. Thus, the trade deficit against Turkey reached US $ 1.33 billion in the same year.

157.            The rise in the share of Asia in world trade also stimulates Turkey’s trade relations with countries in the region. The total trade, which had been approximately US $ 6 billion in 2001, reached to US $ 7.9 billion in 2002, with an increase of 32%. While People’s Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Hong Kong-China and Japan hold the lead in Turkey’s exports to the region, Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and India are the main sources of imports.

158.            Turkish imports from People’s Republic of China has been increasing steadily since 1992 and reached its peak level in 2002 with US $ 1.36 billion, whereas its exports to this country that reached its peak in 1993 with US $ 512 million and displayed sharp decreases between 1994 and 1999. Since the beginning of the year 2000, Turkish exports to China has shown an increasing trend and realized as US $ 265.5 million in 2002.

159.            On the other hand, bilateral trade of Turkey with Russian Federation has reached its highest point recently. Historically, the highest volume in Turkish-Russian trade has been recorded in 2002 as US $ 5 billion. Our estimation for the year 2003 is a trade volume of US $ 6.5 billion, with a deficit of US $ 4 billion against Turkey. 

160.            In spite of the recent efforts to increase bilateral trade with African countries, it could not reach a satisfactory level for both sides. The share of African countries in Turkey’s exports has shown a decreasing trend since 1998. However in 2002 Turkey’s exports to African countries reached to US $ 1.65 billion increasing by 8.37 % compared with 2001. There is also an upward trend in the share of the importation from African countries. Turkey’s imports from African countries reached approximately US $ 2.61 billion in 2002.

161.            Turkey attaches special importance to the development of commercial and economic relations with the Central European and Baltic countries. Finalization of the free trade agreements with Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1998 and with Latvia in 2000, made significant contributions to bilateral trade relations. Since 1998, annual average increase of the trade volume with these countries was realized as 17%.

162.            Considering their positive overall impact on international trade as well as on the multilateral trading system and its regulatory framework, regional integration arrangements will also be the key elements in Turkey’s future agenda. In addition to traditional markets, Turkey will focus on improving the trade relations with the neighboring and region countries. Parallel to this target, “Trade Development Strategy with Neighboring and Region Countries” was initiated in 2000.

163.            This strategy involves Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Syria and Ukraine as neighboring countries, and Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen as region countries. The major criterion is taken as geographical distance, and the strategy to realize potential and improve bilateral trade with these countries has yielded positively. For the year 2002, the trade volume of Turkey with the neighboring countries has figured as US $ 13.4 billion, and US $ 9.2 billion with region countries.

164.            Parallel to this strategy, Turkey matches its trade policy to contribute to economic and political stability in its region. To exemplify, Turkey as a member of both Stability Pact and South East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) plays a leading role in political and economic arenas in South East Europe.

165.            Since 1992, trade with South East European countries has been increasing. It reached US$2.7 billion in 2002 indicating an annual average increase of 15%. In this region, Romania and Bulgaria are the main partners of Turkey. These two countries constitute 80% of the volume realized with countries in this region in 2002. After putting into force of the free trade agreements with Bulgaria and Romania in 1999 and 1998 respectively, the trade volume increased by 50%. To create a stable region with a fair and predictable trading environment, Turkey attaches great importance to bilateral as well as regional initiatives like SECI, with particular emphasis to trade facilitation.

166.            On the other hand, Middle East as a region has a crucial place in Turkey’s foreign relations in political and economic spheres. Exports of Turkey to the region was recorded as US $ 3.51 billion (9.8 % of total) in 2002, while imports from the countries in the Middle East stood at US $ 3.18 billion.

167.            Compared with 1980s, it is observed that the growth rate of the volume of trade between Turkey and the Middle East countries has decreased in 1990s. As one of the reasons, the embargo imposed on Iraq by the UN has impeded trade of Iraq with other countries in the region, including Turkey. However, taking into consideration the lifting of the civilian sanctions on Iraq, Turkey’s increasing energy demand and liberalization activities in the region, bilateral and regional trade is expected to increase in the following years.

168.            As a result of the Trade Development Strategy with Neighboring and Region Countries, Turkey is looking for new ways to improve its trade and create a fair trading environment in the Middle East, South East Europe, Black Sea, Caucasus and Central Asia.

169.            Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is the successor organization of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), which was established by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, and remained active from 1964 up to 1979. In 1992, the Organization was expanded to include seven new members, namely: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. ECO has embarked on several projects in priority sectors of its cooperation including energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control.

170.            Trade liberalization is one of the most important areas in ECO cooperation. On 6 March 2000 the Framework Agreement on ECO Trade Cooperation signed by ECO member states to enhance trade relations among the members. One of the objectives of this Agreement was the formulation of a regional trade agreement aimed at liberalizing trade among the ECO member states. After three years of preparations, the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was finalized and signed between Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey on 17 July 2003. The Agreement foresees the reduction of tariffs within a transition period of 8 years to a maximum of 15% as the highest tariff slab. ECOTA is a comprehensive trade agreement, which has bindings on state monopolies, state aid, protection of intellectual property rights, dumping and anti-dumping measures etc.

171.            The value of the Turkish exports to the ECO region in 2002 has reached US $ 1 billion, which represents a share of 2.8% in total exports. Whereas the value of the Turkish imports from the ECO region in 2002 has reached US $ 1.5 billion, representing 3.0% of the total imports.

172.            It is our belief that ECOTA Agreement will contribute to deepening trade relations among ECO member countries.

173.            The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is another regional organization of which Turkey is a founder member. BSEC, set up in 1992 by the Summit Declaration in Istanbul, engages in various fields of economic activity; namely, banking and finance, exchange of statistical data and economic information, energy, transport and telecommunications, trade and industry, agriculture and agro-industry, environmental protection, science and technology, and tourism. The organization is composed of eleven participating states; Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

174.            The value of Turkish exports to the BSEC region in 2002 has reached US $ 3.4 billion, which represents a share of 9.6% in total exports. In the first seven months of 2003, the value of Turkish exports to the region rose by 31% and reached US $ 2.1 billion. In addition, the value of the Turkish imports from the BSEC region in 2002 has reached US $ 6.5 billion of which the representing share is 12.8% in total imports.

175.            Turkey actively participates in the activities of BSEC, especially within the Working Group on Trade and Economic Development.  Currently there are two projects pursued within this Group: one on identification, monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers in BSEC region; and the other about harmonization and simplification of trade documents used in the region to facilitate the movement of goods and people across national boundaries.

176.            Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) is another regional initiative that is worthy of mentioning. It is one of the three Standing Committees of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). COMCEC is entrusted with the following up of the implementation of resolutions adopted by the OIC in the economic and commercial fields; examining all possible means of strengthening cooperation in those fields among the OIC Member States and putting forth programs and proposals likely to improve the capabilities of the OIC Member States in these sectors.

177.            The Framework Agreement on Trade Preferential System Among the OIC Member States (TPS/OIC) was adopted by the COMCEC in 1990 and having been ratified by 11 Member States including Turkey, entered into force in 2002.

178.            The basic objective of the Framework Agreement on TPS/OIC is the promotion of trade among the OIC Member States through the exchange of trade preferences.

179.            The Agreement also aims at reduction of tariffs and elimination of para-tariff and non-tariff barriers existing in trade among the OIC Member States. It is comprehensive in terms of commodity coverage but foresees gradual implementation over a reasonable period. The first round of trade negotiations for the implementation of the Framework Agreement on TPS/OIC will be held in Turkey in 2004.

180.            Following the foundation of the WTO, the activities of the WTO is a regular item of the agenda in COMCEC meetings, and OIC members who are not a member of the WTO are being encouraged to become a member. Moreover, in order to achieve greater private sector participation, private sector meetings and Islamic Countries Trade Fairs are being organized.

181.            To sum up, Turkey, committed to the expansion of world trade, will further strengthen its bilateral relations with all of the countries with a priority given to neighboring and peripheral countries, including those, which are not yet integrated into the multilateral trading system functioning under the WTO.

182.            Turkey believes that regional integration is a complementary tool to the multilateral trading system to deepen trade among countries in specific geographies. Although Doha objectives could not be achieved on the global scale yet, Turkey remains committed to the rules and principles of the multilateral system and will work enthusiastically to push forward liberalization on multilateral arena.

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