Since 2009 the Turkish Government has applied a threshold CIF value for imported fasteners, which establishes the minimum value per tonne on which importers have to pay Valued Added Tax at 18 percent and the appropriate import duty for the particular country of origin in cash before goods are released from the port.
The regulation applies to imports from all countries, except those of the European Union with which Turkey has a reciprocal customs union agreement, although its primary target is lower cost fasteners originating in China and elsewhere in Asia. The original regulation came into force as the result of a lobbying campaign by BESIAD, the Turkish fastener manufacturers’ association, led personally by its president Mustafa Tecdelioğlu, who is also chairman of Turkey’s second largest (…)
