Turkey Imposes Additional Customs Duties on Certain Furniture and Electrical Products; Maintains Anti-Dumping Measures on Chinese-Origin Bicycle and Motorcycle Tyres and Tubes

Hong Kong traders with export interests in Turkey may like to know that additional customs duties have been imposed on the import of certain furniture, lamps and lamp fittings, vacuum cleaners, electromechanical domestic appliances and heaters, as provided for in three separate decrees, details of which are given below. The three decrees are:

• Decree No. 2015/7699, (Turkish Official Journal No. 29364 dated 23 May 2015) concerning certain furniture;
• Decree No. 2015/7712, (Turkish Official Journal No. 29379 dated 7 June 2015) concerning certain lamps and lighting fittings; and
• Decree No. 2015/7713, (Turkish Official Journal No. 29379 dated 7 June 2015) concerning certain vacuum cleaners, electromechanical domestic appliances, and heaters.

The additional duties on certain furniture entered into force on 23 May 2015, whereas the additional duties on lamps and lamp fittings, vacuum cleaners, electromechanical domestic appliances and heaters entered into force on 7 June 2015.

The rates to be implemented, as indicated in the decrees, are illustrated in the following table. These are applicable to imports from, among other countries, Hong Kong and mainland China:

The abovementioned additional customs duties will not be applied with regard to:

• Those products originating in the EU and EFTA Member States, Israel, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Tunisia, Egypt, Georgia, Albania, Jordan, Chile, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, South Korea and Mauritius;
• The calculation of compensatory tax (if applicable) on the products imported within the framework of the Inward Processing Regime and exported after being processed;
• Those products which are exported to EU Member States with a certificate of circulation (A.TR) after the collection of (the existing) customs duties accrued upon their import.

The additional customs duties, despite being imposed on all countries (except those named in the bullet point above), primarily target imports from mainland China, which ranks first especially in imports of furniture. The measures are considered to protect the domestic industry, which apparently feels that it cannot cope with aggressively priced Chinese products.

Hong Kong traders with export interests in Turkey may also like to know that the anti-dumping measures on certain bicycle tyres and tubes originating in mainland China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; and the anti-dumping measures on certain motorcycle tyres and tubes originating in mainland China, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, are confirmed as remaining in force pursuant to two expiry review investigations.

The continuation of the anti-dumping measures on bicycle tyres and tubes is laid down in Decree No. 2015/35 on the Prevention of Unfair Competition from Imports, published in the Turkish Official Journal, No. 29424, dated 24 July 2015. The applicable duty rates that are maintained within the framework of that new decree, for bicycle tyres and tubes, are illustrated in the following table. These therefore continue to be applicable to imports from mainland China as from 24 July 2015:

The continuation of the anti-dumping measures on motorcycle tyres and tubes is laid down in Decree No. 2015/34 on the Prevention of Unfair Competition from Imports, published in the Turkish Official Journal, No. 29425, dated 25 July 2015. The applicable duty rates that are maintained within the framework of new Decree No. 2015/34 for motorcycle tyres and tubes are illustrated in the following table. These therefore continue to be applicable to imports from mainland China as from 25 July 2015: